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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
'ATONAL BROADCASTING COMPAHt. 1HC.
^ _«irnM l IRRARY
INDEX TO ISSUE OF JULY 2, 1940
New FM Broadcasts Now Opened To Commercial Use . 2
New Cleveland Police Radio Station . 2
Wartime Central News Control Planned . . . 3
Amateur Exams Postponed To Aug. 1 . . . 4
Would Limit Political Broadcast Scope . 4
A. P . On Air In N. Y . 4
FTC Issues Desist Orders In Radio Lotteries . 5
Calls FM "Radio Revolution" . . . 5
FCC Closes Shop For The Fourth . 6
Virginia Emergency Net Regatta Tryout . 6
Crosley Television To Transmit From Cincinnati Skyscraper . 7
Enter The "Newspaper Radio Book" . 7
Newspapers Urged To Make FM Applications . . . . .8
Amateur Favored At National Soaring Contest . .8
From The FCC Mail Bag . 9
Willkie Kept Promise To WLW . 10
Mutual Convention Coverage Cost $9,200 . 10
NBC Divides Sales Groups . 10
Children's Survey Taboos Gangster Programs . ...11
Sees Radio Advertising Usurping Newspapers . 11
RCA-Victor 4-| Lb. Radio Proves Fast Seller . .12
Death Penalty For French Radio Senders . 12
No. 1247
July 2, 1940
NEW FM BROADCASTS NOW OPENED TO COMMERCIAL USE
The final step to permit launching the new FM (frequency
modulation) system of radio broadcasting on a commercial basis
has been taken by the Federal Communications Commission in
approving ’’Standards of Good Engineering Practice Concerning High
Frequency Broadcast Stations" and a new application blank to
accommodate FM broadcasters on their new basis.
The new standards, which remove FM from its heretofore
limited experimental use, govern the technical phases of the pro¬
spective commercial service, and embrace operation, interference,
equipment, etc. , and provide a chart for computing the signal
range on the frequencies 43,000 to 50,000 kilocycles now assigned
to FM. These standards which cover 14 typewritten pages bear
the same relation to frequency modulation service that existing
standards do for amplitude modulation on the lower frequencies.
The new application may now be used by all individuals
and groups interested in applying for FM facilities on a comme:r-
cial basis, including the nearly 150 parties whose applications
for FM facilities on an experimental basis were returned to permit
their filing for commercial use. The new form (Form 319) is
similar to Form 301 used for amplitude modulation broadcast
applications, but revised to apply to FM service particularly.
This completes the official acts necessary to give FM
full recognition. Rules applicable to FM were announced last
week, about a month after the Commission decided, on the basis of
hearing held in March, that commercialization is in the public
interest.
Since FM is now on a standard basis, call letters hence¬
forth issued to its commercial stations will consist of four
letters to distinguish them from the combination of letters and
numerals used to identify experimental stations.
XXXXXXXXX
NEW CLEVELAND POLICE RADIO STATION
The Cleveland Police Department, WRPD, has been granted
a license to cover construction permit for a new municipal police
land station on a frequency of 33,500 kilocycles, with power of
15 watts.
xxxxxxxxxx
- 2 -
7/2/40
WARTIME CENTRAL NEWS CONTROL PLANNED
Moving in utmost secrecy, the Editor & Publisher
reports, aides to President Roosevelt in matters relating to
the war emergency have proposed a program of press and public
relations, installing Lowell Mellett, former editor of the
Washington Daily News, as Director of Information, to begin
functioning if danger of involvement in the conflict becomes more
pronounced.
Censorship likewise would be under Mr. Mellett* s super¬
vision but it would not extend to newspapers or other publications.
The right of press freedom is constitutionally guaranteed even in
time of hostilities and the experience of the United States in
the World War has convinced Federal officials they need have no
concern in that direction. The espionage laws would be invoked
in exceptional cases when the facts warrant so drastic a step.
The program is an extension of the propaganda policies
instituted by Mr. Roosevelt when he created the National Emergency
Council early in his first administration. The trend toward
centralization of press and public relations was accelerated
several months ago when the name of that agency was changed to
Office of Government Reports and made a part of the White House
executive staff. The change was accomplished through a reorgani¬
zation order. Mellett had been director of N. E.C. and he was
retained as chief of the 0. G. R.
The revamped policy needs only the signature of Presi¬
dent Roosevelt to become operative. With it would come a complete
clamp upon information from bureaus and agencies, requiring all
federal news to clear through the single office. As Commander- in«
Chief of the Apny and Navy, it is within the power of the Presi¬
dent to subordinate the publicity bureaus of the armed service to
the central distributing agency and an order effecting that shift
is intended.
The Federal Government now has a national network of
trained propagandists which operated under the original National
Emergency Council and was co-ordinated from Washington. Over¬
night it could be placed on wartime basis.
Radio was not a factor in the World War but has become
so in the interim and the Office of Government Reports is ready
for the new medium. Robert Berger, formerly Radio Director for
the Democratic National Committee, is now the 0. G. R. Chief of
Radio Division. His task will not be a difficult one because the
President has statutory power under the Federal Communications
Act and auxiliary laws to take any or all commercially-operated
stations off the air. No such power is available against claimed
offenses by the printed word.
XXXXXXXXXX
3
rU': D J.
7/2/40
AMATEUR EXAMS POSTPONED TO AUG. 1
The new type amateur radio operator examinations
scheduled to become effective July 1, have been postponed to
August 1.
This postponement was made necessary because of the
impossibility of completing the printing of the examinations.
The present examinations will therefore be continued in use
until August 1, 1940.
XXXXXXXXXX
WOULD LIMIT POLITICAL BROADCAST SCOPE
Following a thorough discussion of the subject, the
Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters
at a meeting held in New York expressed the view that political
broadcasts should be limited to speakers, interviews and announce¬
ments, and to broadcasts of bona fide political meetings or
rallies held outside the studio.
It was the feeling of the NAB Board that stations and
networks will find that the best interests of the industry will
be served by a broadcasting policy which would bar the following:
dramatizations of political issues, either in the form of announce¬
ments or programs; studio political •'rallies’1 ; audience partici¬
pation programs such as the ''Man on the Street” type; anonymous,
simulated and unidentified voices at any time.
The Board discussed the matter of the sale of time on
election day, and came to the conclusion that this is a subject,
in some states affected by law, within the decision of the
individual broadcaster. They also discussed but took no action
on the matter of limitation to not more than one hour in any one
evening to any one candidate.
XXXXXXXXXX
AP ON AIR IN N. Y.
A 24-hour Associated Press news printer has been in¬
stalled in Station MEW, New York, on a one-year agreement with
an option for renewal. The contract was negotiated through the
New York Daily News, AP member paper, which must pay a basic 25$
additional assessment, according to AP by-laws. The News, in
turn, receives compensation from the radio station which broad¬
casts 24. hours per day. The news broadcasts will be sponsored
by several of WNEW s clients.
XXXXXXXX
- 4 -
7/2/40
FTC ISSUES DESIST ORDERS IN RADIO LOTTERIES
The Federal Trade Commission has issued several
orders prohibiting dealers from using lottery methods in connec¬
tion with the sale of their products, to ultimate consumers.
Among these was respondent Sara Guttman, trading as Standard Sales
Co., 2363 Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, dealer in radios, clocks,
watches, fishing tackle, cameras, pen and pencil sets, billfolds
and wood statuettes; also respondent Morton Cohen, trading as
Lee-Moore & Co. and as Adwell Sales Co., 180 West Adams St.,
Chicago, distributor of radios, knives, cigar lighters and other
article s.
The respondents were ordered to cease selling or dis¬
tributing merchandise so packed and assembled that sales to the
general public may be made by means of a lottery, game of chance,
or gift enterprise.
The Chicago dealers were further ordered to cease sup¬
plying to or placing in the hands of others, punch boards, push
or pull cards, or other lottery devices, either with assortments
of merchandise or separately, which devices may be used in selling
or distributing any merchandise to the public.
xxxxxxxxx
CALLS FM “RADIO REVOLUTION”
In the current Saturday Evening Post is an article
an article “Comes the Radio Revolution" by Samuel Lube 11. Adver¬
tising this article the Post says:
“There’s something new in radio, which is giving the
industry the jitters. It’s called ’frequency modulation’, or
FM, and it means a new kind of noise-free, high-fidelity, static¬
less broadcasting that can be tailor-made to fit the air waves.
But it also means a revolution in transmission methods and a
complete change of receiving sets throughout the nation. That’s
why there’s trouble brewing in the council chambers of the radio
industry - and why it’s being aired before the FCC. Here is your
chance to sit in as judge. “
XXXXXXXXX
Special temporary authority has been granted to Station
WINS in New York to operate from 9:15 P.M. to midnight, EST, on
July 9th, in order to broadcast the All-Star Boxing Show for the
benefit of the New York City Milk Fund.
XXXXXXXXX
- 5 -
7/2/40
FCG CLOSES SHOP FOR THE FOURTH
Taking advantage of the respite offered by the approach¬
ing holiday, practically all of the members of the Federal Com¬
munications Commission have left Washington not to return until
after the Fourth of July.
No official business will be transacted until next
week and even then the presence will be lacking of Col. Thad
Brown who, up to now, has failed to be confirmed by the Senate
and whose term of office in the meantime has expired. It is
expected, however, that Colonel Brown eventually will be confirm¬
ed by the Senate but it is not known exactly how strong the
charges against him will be pressed.
XXXXXXXX
VIRGINIA EMERGENCY NET REGATTA TRYOUT
Special permission has been given by the Federal Com¬
munications Commission to a group of amateurs in the vicinity of
Hampton Roads, Va. , to practically test their emergency communi¬
cations system during the Hampton Regatta from July 4 to 7. The
operators’ stations included are:
Carl Probst, W3AJA, Hampton, Va. ; Walter G. Walker,
W3AKN, Newport News, Va. ; John Needre, W3GGI, Newport News, Va. ;
A. Curtis Bryant, W3GGP, Newport News, Va. ; W. Raymond Burrows,
W3HJW, Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va. ; Maj. Edmund C. Lynch,
W3HWJ, Langley Field, Va. ; Harry A. Morewitz, W3IAN, Newport News,
Va. ; L. L. Stoner, W3ICZ, Newport News, Va. ; P. B. Schroder, W3IEX,
Hampton Institute, Hampton, Va. , and A. C. Jones, W3NE, Hampton, Va.
These amateurs located in one of the most important naval
strategic national defense points in the United States and also
in a storm area which frequently jeopardizes shipping and life
and property, have banded together to provide more effective
emergency communication in the event of tropical hurricanes or
other emergencies which might arise in the lower part of the
Virginia Peninsula.
They have constructed portable-emergency equipment and
regularly hold drills to test the equipment and operating methods.
XXXXXXXX
NOTE : DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE GOVERNMENT OFFICES ARE TO
BE CLOSED FOURTH OF JULY, THERE WILL BE NO ISSUE OF THIS SERVICE
ON FRIDAY, JULY 5TH.
xxxxxxxxx
- 6 -
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7/2/40
CROSLEY TELEVISION TO TRANSMIT FROM CINCINNATI SKYSCRAPER
Following assignment to Powel Crosley, Jr. , to the
main channel, on a band ranging from 50,000 to 56,000 kilocycles,
by the Federal Communications Commission, announcement was made
by James D. Shouse, General Manager of WLW, that the new tele¬
vision transmission station would be located in the top of the
Carew Tower, 48- story Cincinnati skyscraper.
XXXXXXXX
ENTER THE "NEWSPAPER RADIO BOOK"
Described as a "Newspaper Radio Book", an advertising
feature appeared for the first time anywhere in a recent edition
of the Washington (D. C. ) Sunday Star.
Employing two full pages, the innovation carries radio
programs for a full week with space divided equally between pro¬
gram schedules and advertising copy. The potential "pull" for a
full week made it possible for the Star to obtain premium rates
for space. One solicitor sold out the available linage on that
basis within one week.
When folded according to printed instructions, the sheet
becomes a 16-page booklet. The first page lists recommended
programs for Sunday and for the week. Opened, each left page
carries a day's program and each right page displays advertising
copy, sold only in units of full or half column.
The Star is designing a substantial cover into which
the sheared pages may be easily slipped. Designed by Gene Flynn
of Lewis Advertising Agency, who has applied for patent, the
newspaper radio book is available to one newspaper in any commun¬
ity for a flat charge measured on linage.
XXXXXXXXXX
Authority has been given to McNary & Chambers, radio
engineers of Washington, D. C. , to make tests of possible trans¬
mitter sites in the vicinity of Schenectady, N. Y. , to more
accurately determine the results of operation of the proposed
station W10XMC on 1190 kc. , to be operated in the area of
Schenectady pending action on formal application for a develop¬
mental broadcast station.
XXXXXXXX
7
7/2/40
NEWSPAPERS URGED TO MAKE EM APPLICATIONS
Urging publications, large and small to take out FM
licenses and not to be caught napping as the papers were in the
beginning of broadcasting, Editor & Publisher makes the follow¬
ing appeal to its readers:
"Members of the Inland Daily Press Association recently
heard an enlightening discussion of the possibilities of radio
transmission by frequency modulation. This page has referred
often to this technical advance in broadcasting, and it reminds
its newspaper-maker readers again that the new development may
mean much to newspapers large and small.
"We understand that applications for licenses to broad¬
cast with FM transmitters are being received by the Federal Com¬
munications Commission and that these applications will be con¬
sidered on and after Jan. 1, 1941. It is stated also that com¬
mercial broadcasting by FM may be approved as of that date.
"This method permits broadcasting with remarkable fidel¬
ity of reproduction by ultra short wave over short ranges. Its
original cost is said to be two-thirds of present installation
cost and its maintenance also promises to be cheaper. That may
let small city newspapers in for a new and disturbing form of com¬
petition, if possible competitors get their applications filed
before the newspapers act. Newspapers can present a more meri¬
torious case for the rendition of public service by radio than
any other commercial interest, but it must not be forgotten that
priority of application often carries weight in official circles.
"Unless the small city newspapers want to be left at
the post now as their metropolitan brethren (with some important
exceptions) were with pioneer broadcasting, immediate action is
important. "
xxxxxxxxxx
AMATEUR FAVORED AT NATIONAL SOARING CONTEST
That John M. Mulligan, of Elmira, N. Y. , an amateur
operating Station W8USA might render a voluntary communication
service in connection with the 11th National Soaring Contest which
will continue in the vicinity of Elmira until July 14th, the Feder¬
al Communications Commission has given him special permission to
operate portable and portable-mobile amateur radiotelephone equip¬
ment on amateur frequencies between 28,500 and 30,000 kilocycles.
XXXXXXXX
8
7/2/40
FROM THE FCO MAIL BAG
Individually disgruntled radio fans still deluge the
Federal Communications Commission with their particular complaint
about this or that radio program, according to the FCC Press *
Department. Few well-known programs - or artists - escape men¬
tion at one time or another in such letters. As constantly re¬
iterated, the Commission has no authority to censor individual
programs or performers. Some idea of the type of squawks in which
the Commission lacks jurisdiction may be gleaned from recent ’’pan”
mail :
Various letters object to the air utterances by Col. Charles
A. Lindberg, Hanford McNider, Frank Gannett, Judge John A. Matthews,
Earl Browder, and others.
A New Yorker wants the radio team of Burns and Allen barred
from the air because he doesn’t find some of their jokes funny.
A Californian doesn’t agree with H. V. Kaltenbom’s news
interpretations.
Another Californian resents certain airy statements by Jack
Benny.
On the other hand, a New Yorker voices indignation at a Fred
Allen wisecrack.
And at least one Californian doesn't write highly of Bob Hope.
Also, one Californian's ears do not seem attuned appreciably
to Cab Calloway’s music.
One of Walter Winchell's fellow New Yorkers is irked by a
statement by the former.
An Oklahoman would like to see young ears closed to "Stella
Dallas ".
A Connecticut man feels that he has been personally stung by
"The Green Hornet" series.
A Pennsylvania man would like to have "Confidentially Yours"
publicly censured.
A Tennessean is aroused by the "Court of Missing Heirs" pro¬
gram.
"What’s My Name" brings criticism over the name of a New
Jersey listener.
A New Yorker didn't relish the network presentation of "Abe
Lincoln of Illinois. "
Another resident of that city is dismayed by "This Amazing
America ",
The "Dr. I.Q. " programs prompts a Californian to ask some
questions of his own.
"Information Please" registers objection from one New Yorker.
Even the "National Fhrm and Home Hour" brought a critical
letter from Pennsylvania.
And, last but not least, the numerous contest programs invite
numerous letters to the Commission from listeners who think they
are also entitled to prizes.
XXXXXXXX
-9 -
7/2/40
WILLKIE KEPT PROMISE TO WLW
A major political scoop was claimed by radio station
WLW, Cincinnati, Wednesday night during the Republican National
Convention when it secured the first air interview during the
convention by Wendell L. Willkie. At the very start of the con¬
vention, Willkie promised Fred Thomas, script writer for WLW, and
Peter Grant, ace announcer, that he would appear on an interview
program with Grant.
As his campaign picked up speed, networks and other sta¬
tions clamored for interviews with ViTillkie, but the man who now
is the Republican standard bearer refused because of the pressing
nature of campaign conferences. But - he kept his promise to WLW
and went on the air from 6:45 to 7:00 P.M., June 26.
Cecil Carmichael, assistant to James D. Shouse, General
Manager of WLW, went to Willkie 1 s room shortly before the schedul¬
ed broadcast and escorted him to WLW headquarters in the Benjamin
Franklin Hotel. This was also Willkie' s headquarters. A freight
elevator was used to take the candidate to the floor on which the
studios were located and to return him to his own room.
XXXXXXXX
MUTUAL CONVENTION COVERAGE COSTS #9,200
The Mutual network devoted 33 hours and 57 minutes to
the Republican National Convention. Total operating costs were
#8,000. Loss in commercial revenue accounted for an additional
#1,200.
XXXXXXXX
NBC DIVIDES SALES GROUPS
The NBC Central Division network sales department will
be divided into two distinct groups, one devoting its attention
to the Red network and one to the Blue.
The Blue Sales Department will be headed by Paul McCluer
as Manager and Floyd Van Etten will serve as Traffic Manager.
Harry C. Kopf becomes Central Division Sales Manager
for the Red Network, with James J. Neale as Sales Traffic Manager.
XXXXXXXX
10 -
>j ■
I
7/2/40
CHILDREN’S SURVEY TABOOS GANGSTER PROGRAMS
Interest in gangster and other similar radio thriller
programs is falling off, according to a survey of children’s
programs taken by the United Parents’ Associations of New York
City.
While 45.3 percent of the children held that they liked
to listen to adventure and mystery programs, they drew a definite
line against the more gruesome thrillers and over-exciting myster¬
ies such as ’’Gang Busters", "The Shadow" and "Superman", the
survey reported.
Among the programs commended by the children were "The
Lone Ranger", "Sky Blazers", "Ellery Queen", "I Love a Mystery",
"Five Star Final" and "One of the Finest".
Also high in the approved list were "Information Please"
"Cavalcade of America", and the Charlie McCarthy and Jack Benny
programs.
xxxxxxxx
SEES RADIO ADVERTISING USURPING NEWSPAPERS
Addressing the Newspaper Advertising Executives’ Associa
tion,at Chicago, Harvey R. Young of the Columbus Pi spatch said
that radio is usurping newspapers as the basic advertising medium
in the national field, although it has not seriously affected news
paper circulations. He advocated a sharper cleavage between news¬
paper and radio sales organizations in those instances where news¬
papers own or control radio stations. He, too, urged less com¬
petitive selling among dailies and a united greater effort to
regain the national advertiser's esteem.
Mr. Young cited figures to show that a more convincing
selling message can be put across in a half page ad in a given
list of newspapers than in radio commercials on the average net¬
work program. National advertisers, he said, don’t give news¬
papers a fair trial, emphasizing that number of insertions and
amount of linage have a definite bearing on newspaper results.
He warned NAEA members that radio is apparently getting ready to
invade the retail field with greater effort, asserting that at
conferences already held radio is insisting on 52-week contracts
for retailers. He expressed confidence in newspapers’ ability
to meet this invasion and suggested 3etter Business Bureaus watch
local radio programs more carefully as to commercial plugs which
may deceive the buying public.
XXXXXXXXX
11 -
7/2/40
RCA-VICTOR 4i LB. RADIO PROVES FAST SELLER
According to New York advices, the new RCA-Victor Book-
Size $20 radio was a sell-out on the first day. One of the large
New York department stores advertised the novelty as follows:
’’Initialed for you without charge. Complete with bat¬
teries. As easy to carry as a camera. Goes into your airplane
luggage, your knitting bag, your brief case, picnic basket. It’s
only three inches high, three and eleven-sixteenths wide, eight
and seven-eights long. Neat as a modern cigarette case, compact,
self contained. The antenna is hidden in the cover which you lift
to turn set on. Plays where many portables have failed. We even
tested it in the subway and the Long Island Railroad station,
where it worked even though conflicting noises made hearing dif¬
ficult. New type supersensitive circuit just perfected by RCA-
Victor. Wonderful tone and volume rivals that of table models
and delights lovers of fine music. Shoulder carrying strap, 50/. ”
XXXXXXXX
DEATH PENALTY FOR FRENCH RADIO SENDERS
Two severe orders were issued by the military authorit¬
ies in Paris, one signed by General Walther von Brauchitsch,
Commander in chief of the German armies, demands that all radio
sending apparatus, even that made by amateurs, be turned over to
the nearest German military post.
This order includes portable generators, batteries and
all other accessories. All persons who keep apparatus of any sort
or accessories notwithstanding this order will be punished with
death, hard labor or imprisonment.
Paris newspapers have published eight decrees of the
German authorities among which are:
The publishing of material harmful to Germany is forbidden.
The listening publicly or alone to non-German or unauthor¬
ized radio broadcasts is forbidden.
Spreading anti-German news by radio or any other means
is strictly forbidden.
German laws shall be applicable to all cases brought
before military tribunals for trial.
. XXXXXXXXXX
12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
Fly Says Defense Plans Should. Not Alarm Broadcasters . 2
Rules Affecting Radio Operators Tightened . 3
Thad Brown To Get Another Grilling . 4
Canada Raises War-Time Taxes On Radios . 4
Fly, Johnson To Address NAB Convention . 5
Radio Exports Make Partial Recovery . 6
Democratic Convention Not To Be Televised . 6
KGKB Revocation Is Affirmed . 7
Fair To Honor Broadcasters August 3 . 7
Radio Engineers Sought For Government Employment . 9
FCC Joins In Hunt For False SOS Radio Report . 9
Trade Notes . 10
I. T. & T. Income Shows Spurt For Quarter . .....11
Sponsored News May Be Banned In Canada . 11
Philco Stock Offered Public This Week . . . 12
July 9, 1940
FLY SAYS DEFENSE PLANS SHOULD NOT ALARM BROADCASTERS
Seeking to quiet the fear among broadcasters that the
Government may take over the operation of radio stations in case
of war, James L. Fly, Chairman of the Federal Communications Com¬
mission, this week at his regular press conference reiterated a
statement that the industry has nothing to worry about.
The FCC Chairman said he knew of no reason why radio
advertisers should not continue to sign contracts for the usual
periods.
“There is no reason in the world”, he said, “why com¬
mercial organizations and commitments should not continue unim¬
peded. “
Chairman Fly insisted that the FCC has no plans to
assume “sweeping control” over broadcasting activities in event
of national emergency.
In response to questions, Mr. Fly asserted “our Govern¬
ment isn't qualified to take over broadcasting. “
"Of course”, he added, “if we should ever get into war,
there will be some particular things the Government would have to
do, but there would be nothing done of a sweeping character
affecting the broadcasting industry. "
Mr. Fly said there was no occasion now and expressed
hope there never would be for the radio industry “to become alarm¬
ed about plans for defense. “
“There is every reason the industry should not be alarm¬
ed", he continued. “Our plans are to leave private operations in
private hands to continue to perform the functions they are now
performing. "
xxxxxxxx
The Federal Communications Commission has granted the
application of Joe W. Engel, for a new station in Chattanooga,
Tenn. , to operate on the frequency 1370 kc. with 250 watts, unlim¬
ited time, upon condition that permittee shall file an application
for modification of construction permit specifying exact transmitter
location within two months after effective date of order.
XXXXXXXXX
- 2 -
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7/9/40
RULES AFFECTING RADIO OPERATORS TIGHTENED
New rules to strengthen and make more definite certain
prohibitions with respect to conduct of commercial and amateur
radio operators were approved Friday by the Federal Communications
Commission, effective immediately.
Under authority contained in the Communications Act, the
Commission amended its "Rules Governing Amateur Radio Stations
and Operators" as follows:
Sec. 12.28 Obscenity, Indecency, profanity. No
licensed radio operator or other person shall transmit
communications containing obscene, indecent, or profane
words, language, or meaning.
Sec. 12.81 False signals. No licensed radio opera¬
tor shall transmit false or deceptive signals or communi¬
cations by radio, or any call letter or signal which has
not been assigned by proper authority to the radio sta¬
tion he is operating.
Sec. 12.82 Unidentified communications. No licens¬
ed radio operator shall willfully or maliciously inter¬
fere with or cause interference to any radio communica¬
tion or signal.
Sec. 12.30 Damage to apparatus. No licensed radio
operator shall willfully damage, or cause or permit to
be damaged, any radio apparatus or installation in any
licensed radio station.
Sec. 12.50 Fraudulent licenses. No licensed radio
operator or other person shall obtain or attempt to ob¬
tain, or assist another to obtain or attempt to obtain,
an operator license by fraudulent means.
Likewise, the Commission supplemented its "Rules Governing
Commercial Radio Operators" with:
Sec. 13.64 Obedience to lawful orders. All licensed
radio operators shall obey and carry out the lawful orders
of the master or person lawfully in charge of the ship or
aircraft on which they are employed.
Sec. 13.65 Damage to apparatus. No licensed radio
operator shall willfully damage, or cause or permit to be
damaged, any radio apparatus or installation in any li¬
censed radio station.
Sec. 13.66 Unnecessary, unidentified, or superfluous
communications. No licensed radio operator shall transmit
unnecessary, unidentified, or superfluous radio communica¬
tions or signals.
Sec. 13. 67 Obscenity, indecency, profanity. No
licensed radio operator or other person shall transmit
communications containing obscene, indecent, or profane
words, language, or meaning.
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Sec. 13.68 False signals. No licensed radio operator
shall transmit false or deceptive signals or communica¬
tions by radio, or any call letter or signal which has
not been assigned by proper authority to the radio sta¬
tion he is operating.
Sec. 13. 69 Interference . No licensed radio operator
shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause
interference to any radio communication or signal.
Sec. 13.70 Fraudulent licenses. No licensed radio
operator or other person shall obtain or attempt to ob¬
tain, or assist another to obtain or attempt to obtain,
an operator’s license by fraudulent means.
Under these provisions the Commission clarifies its
authority to prosecute as well as suspend licenses in cases of
violation.
THAD BROWN TO GET ANOTHER GRILLING
The Senate Interstate Commerce Committee isn’t through
with Thad H. Brown yet.
After an executive discussion of the matter yesterday
(July 8), the Committee decided to hold a third hearing at 10:30
A.M. tomorrow, (Wednesday, July 10).
Meanwhile Commissioner Brown is without authority to
participate in any Federal Communications Commission proceedings
as his term expired June 30 and he is off the Government payroll
until the Senate acts.
XXXXXXXXX
CANADA RAISES WAR-TIME TAXES ON RADIOS
The budget introduced in Canadian Parliament effective
June 25th imposes an additional "war exchange" tax of 10 percent
on all non-Empire imports, according to the American Legation at
Ottawa, and raises the excise taxes on a number of articles, in¬
cluding radios and radio tubes, both imported and domestic. The
additional tax of 10 percent on all imports is based on the value
for duty purposes, whether the articles are free or dutiable,
except goods entering Canada, under the British preferential tar¬
iff. This tax will be subject to drawback in the case of goods
imported for further manufacture and export from Canada, as in
the case of regular import duties. A new excise tax of 10 per¬
cent of the duty-paid value is imposed on radios and radio tubes.
xxxxxxxx
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FLY, JOHNSON TO ADDRESS NAB CONVENTION
James Lawrence Fly, Chairman of the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission, and Assistant Secretary of War, Louis Johnson,
will address the convention of the National Association of Broad¬
casters in San Francisco next month.
This will be the first appearance of Chairman Fly before
an NAB convention. Mr. Johnson will speak on the national emer¬
gency and its possible effect on the American system of broad¬
casting. The convention will open at the St. Francis Hotel in
San Francisco, August 4, and continue through August 7.
Urging that every station be represented, Neville
Miller this past week declared:
"The problems which radio faced in the past pale in
comparison with those it faces in 1940. We are in an emergency
period. New problems, technical, social and commercial confront
us. We are setting up a convention program designed to make this
a well-informed industry, to give opportunity for all views to
be expressed, evaluated and compared before final formal action
is taken. What is done at San Francisco this August will shape
the course of broadcasting for possibly years ahead. Every member
owes it to himself to have a voice in determining the decisions
which must be made. w
A comprehensive report on BMI and a full review of the
NAB Code are features of an agenda which includes analyses of the
labor situation, the A. F. of M. , wages and hours, a full review
of FM, reports covering legislative matters and the relations of
the industry with government and advertisers.
Of wide public and industry interest will be a panel
discussion on the problems of special events broadcasting, with
particular reference to coverage of the war and the handling of
political broadcasting, to be presided over by Mark Ethridge,
WHAS. Taking part in the discussion will be Paul White, Director
of Special Events of CBS; Abe Schechter, Director of Special
Events of NBC; Van C. Newkirk, in charge of special events for
KHJ-Mutual on the Coast, and Herb Hollister of KFBI.
In conjunction with the convention there will be meet¬
ings of the independent and IRNA groups and FM broadcasters. The
Board of Directors will hold its annual meeting on August 4. On
the same day, the Code Compliance Committee will be in session to
receive recommendations from members.
XXXXXXXX
- 5 -
7/9/40
RADIO EXPORTS MAKE PARTIAL RECOVERY
United States’ exports of electrical equipment were
valued at $12,089,165 in May of this year compared with the
April trade of $11,811,777, an increase of 2.3 percent, according
to the Electrical Division, Department of Commerce.
Shipments of radio receiving sets, which had decreased
in April to the low level of $655,679, recovered in May to total
$779,732. Loudspeakers improved from $22,988 to $29,861, while
receiving set components showed little change at $447,573. All
other radio classifications, however, registered decreases;
transmitting sets, tubes and parts decreased from $363,488 to
$308,775; other receiving set accessories from $60,180 to $48,958;
and radio receiving tubes fell to the lowest level of the year
when sales totaled only $170,080 in May as compared with $269,233
in April.
Foreign sales of electrical equipment in May exceeded
the $8,973,606 trade of May, 1939, by $3,115,559, or 34.7 percent.
The trade for the first 5 months of the current year aggregated
$58,222,623 compared with the corresponding 1939 volume of
$43,354,568, an increase of $14,868,055, or 34.3 percent.
No defined general trend was noticeable, trade fluctua¬
tions being numerous in both directions among the individual
commodity categories. Outstanding among those which showed an
upward tendency were refrigerators, radio receivers, rubber-
covered wire, several generator classes, and others.
xxxxxxxxx
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION NOT TO BE TELEVISED
The Republicans will have had one thing that the Demo¬
crats won't when they meet in Chicago next week, i.e., television.
The National Broadcasting Company, which aroused con¬
siderable interest, especially among the women delegates, with
its television pick-ups, has found that transmission problems
would be too great to repeat the performance at Chicago.
The Democratic convention will be covered just as
thoroughly by radio, however, as all the major networks are pre¬
paring to send their crack announcers and commentators to Chicago.
Preliminary and unofficial estimates of the cost of
covering the G.O.P. convention to NBC, CBS, and Mutual were
between $250,000 and $275,000, chiefly due to the replacement of
valuable commercial periods. Variety estimated the television
experiment at $15,000.
XXXXXXXXX
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KGKB REVOCATION IS AFFIRMED
The Federal Communications Commission last week announc¬
ed its proposed findings of fact and conclusions, proposing to
affirm the* recommendations of Commissioner Payne to revoke the
license of the East Texas Broadcasting Company (KGKB), Tyler,
Texas, operating on 1500 kc. , with 250 watts, unlimited time.
Upon consideration of all the facts of record, the Com¬
mission found that the East Texas Broadcasting Company, licensee
of Station KGKB, had, on some date unknown to the Commission dur¬
ing the year 1936, delegated the operation and management of the
station to one James G. Ulmer. By virtue of such action the
company voluntarily transferred the rights theretofore granted
to it by terms of the license issued by this Commission, without
its consent in writing for such transfer or assignment, in viola¬
tion of the provisions of the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended.
“East Texas Broadcasting Company, licensee of Station
KGKB did therefore, violate the provisions of the license hereto¬
fore issued to it for the operation of said station, and the
revocation order entered in this matter on February 13, 1940, is
affirmed", the FCC stated.
All parties will have 20 days within which to file
exceptions and request oral argument on the proposed report and
exceptions.
XXXXXXXXX
FAIR TO HONOR BROADCASTERS AUGUST 3
A nationwide tribute to the broadcasting industry of
the United States will be presented under the joint auspices of
the World's Fair of 1940 in New York and the Golden Gate Inter¬
national Exposition of San Francisco on Saturday, August 3,
according to an announcement issued this week by both Fairs.
The date has been set aside as Broadcasters' Day at
the two expositions and a simultaneous celebration has been
planned as an expression of public goodwill toward the radio
industry. Especial emphasis will be placed on the efforts of
radio at promoting national unity through the free expression of
ideas. The date has been selected because the annual convention
of the National Association of Broadcasters will open in San
Francisco on the following day, August 4.
The chief event of the day will be an impressive pro¬
gram in the Court of Peace and Freedom at the New York World's
- 7 -
7/9/40
Fair. As the climax of the program a plaque will be unveiled.
A similar ceremony will take place simultaneously at the San
Francisco Fair. The design of the plaque is based on a quota¬
tion from Walt Whitman: "The liberties of the people are safe
as long as there are tongues to speak and ears to hear. "
Harvey D. Gibson, Chairman of the Board of the New York
Fair, and Marshall Dill, President of the San Francisco Exposi¬
tion, in a joint statement declared:
"The World's Fair of 1940 in New York and the Golden
Gate International Exposition are happy to join in this proposed
tribute to a great and vital American industry, an industry which
has become a tremendous force in the development of our national
aims and ideals. In these times of stress, it is more important
than ever that Freedom of Radio take its place along with those
other priceless freedoms guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights.
We believe that the two great international expositions now being
held on opposite sides of our American continent can perform a
great service to the nation by helping to focus attention in this
way on the American concept of Freedom of Radio taking its place
alongside Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship and Freedom of
the Press. "
The ceremonies at the two Fair grounds will provide
the nucleus for a one hour broadcast over all the major networks
and independent stations of the country. The coast-to-coast
hookups of the Columbia Broadcasting System, National Broadcast¬
ing Company and the Mutual Broadcasting System, totalling more
than four hundred stations, will carry the broadcast from
9:00 to 10:00 P.M. , EST. In addition, scores of non-network
stations will be linked to the chains for the occasion.
Details of the broadcast program have not yet been com¬
pleted but the general outline will include expressions of opin¬
ion by various leaders, including Mr. Gibson and Mr.Di3.1, and
top-flight entertainment by the greatest stars in the entertain¬
ment world today. Neville Miller, President of the National
Association of Broadcasters, will speak for the radio industry in
accepting the tribute.
While the main portion of the broadcast will originate
at the New York and San Francisco Fairs, pickups will be made
from all over the nation to give a complete cross section of
broadcasting in America.
Dr. John S. Young, Director of Radio and Television for
the World's Fair of 1940 in New York, and R. C. Coleson, Director
of Radio for the Golden Gate International Exposition, will be
masters of ceremonies.
xxxxxxxxx
- 8 -
7/9/40
RADIO ENGINEERS SOUGHT FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT
The United States Civil Service Commission has announced
examinations to fill engineering positions in the Government in
various specialized fields. Salaries range from $2,600 to $4,600
a year, less a retirement deduction of 3-1/2 percent.
Applications must be filed with the Commission’s Wash¬
ington office not later than August 5 if received from States east
of Colorado, and not later than August 8, 1940, if received from
Colorado and States westward.
Applicants must have had study in an engineering course
in a recognized college, and professional engineering experience
in the branch of engineering for which application is made.
Optional branches included in the examination are: Electrical,
heating and ventilating, materials, mechanical, mining, radio,
structural, telegraph, telephone, and welding. Substitution of
additional engineering experience may be made for part of the
required education; and graduate study in engineering may be
accepted for part of the experience. Applicants will not be given
a written test, but will be rated on their qualifications as shown
in their applications and on corroborative evidence.
Full information as to the requirements for the examina¬
tions, and the appropriate application forms, may be obtained
from the Secretary of the Board of U. S. Civil Service Examiners,
at any first or second class post office, or from the U. S. Civil
Service Commission, Washington, D. C.
xxxxxxxx
FCC JOINS IN HUNT FOR FALSE SOS RADIO REPORT
The source of a false SOS reporting that the United
States destroyer Barry had been struck by a German submarine was
sought by Government investigators this week.
Authenticity of the SOS was suspected almost as soon as
it was picked up by Mackay Radio because it was sent on the short¬
wave band of 55 meters instead of the ’’Barry's" wavelength of
500 meters. The false message, mentioning the "Barry" by name but
not signed with its call letters, reported:
"Sinking slowly, hit by German submarine; water in
hold; can last three hours." It gave a position 400 miles off the
coast of Spain. "
The Navy declined to disclose position of the destroyer
after establishing it was safe. It was known to be in Spanish
waters, however, and there have been reports that it was at Bilboa,
Spain.
)( . The Federal Communications Commission tackled, as an
exceedingly difficult task", the job of running down the author
of the false message.
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Chairman James L. Fly said the Commission was making an
extensive investigation through its monitor stations in coopera¬
tion with the Navy and Mackay radio, which picked up the myster¬
ious message.
;'lt is a puzzling case”, Mr. Fly said. "We cannot moni¬
tor every wave length all the time. When a message comes and
goes on an unsuspected wave length, there you are. "
XXXXXXXXX
: : : TRADE NOTES : : :
WOR will be the first station in the country to com¬
pletely equip one of its studios for high fidelity Frequency
Modulation broadcasting in accorda.nce with the recent new regu¬
lation of the FCC calling for high fidelity facilities for FM
broadcasts. The new equipment will be put in to use simultan¬
eously with the beginning of FM transmission from WOR’s new site
at 444 Madison Avenue the latter part of this month. - -
William S. Knudsen, in charge of correlating production
under the National Defense Program, announced yesterday that
W. H. Harrison, Vice President and Chief Engineer of the American
Telephone & Telegraph Co. had been appointed Director of the
Construction Division of the Production Department of the National
Defense Advisory Commission.
Gross billings for time on the Columbia Network - prior
to deductions for agency commissions and time discounts to spon¬
sors - totaled $3,144,213 during June, 1940. The June figure
brings the .six-month cumulative total for 1940 to $20,457,372^.^
June time sales of the Mutual Broadcasting System amount¬
ed to $299,478, an increase of 31.2 percent over June 1939 time
sales of $228,186. Cumulative time sales for the first six months
of 1940 amounted to $2,031,323, an increase of 25.1 percent over
the similar 1939 period when time sales amounted to $1,624,235^.
Gross client expenditures on NBC networks increased
7.7 / in June over the corresponding month in 1939, and rose 8.7/
during the first six months of 1940 over the same period last
year. Total billings last month were $3,642,100 compared with
$3,382,404 in June 1939. For the first six months of 1940 bill¬
ings totalled $24,559,876 as against $22,598,937 for the same
period in 1939.
Gross expenditures on the NBC Red Network in June were
$2,919,405 compared with $2,759,917 for June 1939, an increase of
5.8/0. Gross expenditures on the NBC Blue Network totalled
$722,695 as against $622,487 in 1939, an increase of 16.1/.
Cumulative billings for the first six months for the
Red Network were $19,326,846 compared with $18,149,437 for the
same period last year, an increase of 6.5/. Blue Network bill¬
ings totalled $5,233,030 as against $4,449,500 for the first six
months of 1939, an increase of 17.6/.
XXXXXXXXX
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I. T. & T. INCOME SHOWS SPURT FOR QUARTER
The International Telephone & Telegraph Corporation
last week reported net income of $406,580 for the quarter ended
March 31, after taxes, depreciation, subsidiary dividends, in¬
terest and other deductions, but excluding reports from all
European, Mexican and cable and radiotelegraph subsidiaries.
In the same quarter of 1939 net income on a similar
basis was $261,367.
The report included a cash dividend of $600,000 receiv¬
ed during last March from International Standard Electric Corpora¬
tion but it was stated it was not expected further dividends
would be received from that source.
"With respect to the properties of International Stand¬
ard Electric Corporation and its subsidiaries, the corporation's
latest advices indicate that the factories of the subsidiaries in
the occupied areas of Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Holland have not
been damaged and are operating, but on a reduced scale", said
Sosthenes Behn, President. He added the French factories also
were reported undamaged but that some machinery was transferred
before evacuation of Parin upon instructions of the French govern¬
ment.
The report said preliminary information was that Russian-
occupied Rumanian territory contained about 10 percent of the
plant of the Rumanian telephone operating subsidiary, and that
revenues from Transatlantic Cable Operation had been reduced
seriously by the cables ceasing to function after German occupa¬
tion of Holland, Belgium and France.
For the March, 1940, quarter the parent company, only,
reported net loss of $530,971, after taxes and other reductions,
against loss of $306,928 in the same period of 1939.
XXXXXXXXXX
NEWS MAY BE BANNED IN CANADA
Because of the alleged distribution by private broad¬
casting companies of war news in an unnecessarily alarming form,
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is likely to be given a
monopoly of news broadcasting in Canada, according to a Montreal
correspondent of Editor & Publisher.
Sponsored news broadcasts will soon be a thing of the
past, Hon. C. D. Howe, Minister of Transport, informed the
Canadian House of Commons June 28, in reply to a question from
R. B. Hanson, Conservative leader. He promised that Parliament
would be told first, "if I am not scolded by New York news ser¬
vices , about the new plan which would be evolved after investi¬
gation of the situation by Walter S. Thompson, Director of
Public Relations of the Canadian National Railways, whose appoint¬
ment to do that work Mr. Howe announced.
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The plan which is reported to be under consideration
would involve a pooling of the news gathered by the various news
services including the Canadian Press, the British United Press
and Transradio Press. This news would be collected and edited
by CBC and then transmitted over its facilities. While the
Canadian Press has been furnishing its news to CBS without charge
it is possible that the other agencies might be given some com¬
pensation.
XXXXXXXX
PHILCO STOCK OFFERED PUBLIC THIS WEEK
Plans are proceeding for public offering this week of
325,000 shares of common stock of the Philco Corporation, accord¬
ing to the New York Times* business page. Smith, Barney & Co.
will manage the offering. With them will be an underwriting group
of thirty or more investment firms. The original registration
statement was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
on May 23, but public offering has been delayed pending a return
of more normal conditions and the offering is expected to signal¬
ize the resumption of distribution of new issues of the equity
type.
By announcing its intention to finance publicly, the
company, formed in 1892, broke a tradition because its shares
never before have been available to the public. On April 26
stockholders of the corporation amended the articles of incor¬
poration and provided for reclassification of the existing common
stock. Each share of previously outstanding common was exchanged
for thirty- three and a third shares of new common stock. When
effect was given to this exchange, Philco had outstanding 1,221,100
common shares, in addition to 28,385 shares of $100 par value $5
preference stock. It has no funded debt.
It is planned to offer 150,000 shares of the new common
stock for the account of Philco Corporation and 175,000 shares
for the account of certain stockholders who agreed to dispose of
a part of their holdings for public subscription. All of the
150,000 shares to be sold for the account of the company are held
in its treasury. The difference between the net proceeds to be
received by the company and the $3-par value a share will be
added to the company's capital surplus, and the entire net pro¬
ceeds, together with such additional funds from the company's funds
as required, will be used to redeem the outstanding $5 preference
stock.
XXXXXXXX
12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF JULY 12, 1940
"Errors" In Monopoly Report To Be Cited . 2
New FCC Rules Aimed At "Fifth Columnists" . 4
War Closes France Market For Imported Radios . 5
U. 3. Broadcasts Popular In Latin America . 6
FCC Makes Decision In Heitmeyer And Frontier Cases
Newspapers Again Advised To Seek FM Licenses
Broadcasters Seek Wage-Hour Modification . 8
Extensive Nazi Radio Net Seen By Pick-Ups . 9
Coastal Harbor Radiotelephone Frequencies Changed . 10
Philco Shares Quickly Bought By Public . . . 11
<1 -3
"ERRORS” IN MONOPOLY REPORT TO BE CITED
The networks and other interested parties will be given
an opportunity to cite specific errors in facts and conclusions in
briefs filed with the Federal Communications Commission, it was
disclosed this week at the third hearing by the Senate Interstate
Commerce Committee on the renomination of Commissioner Thad H.
Brown.
John J. Burns, special counsel for the Columbia Broad¬
casting System, made the disclosure in the presence of Chairman
James L. Fly of the FCC after the monopoly report had been riddled
by Ralph Colin, general counsel of the CBS.
Previously Mr. Burns charged that the report "contains
errors of fact and unwarranted inferences”, and Mr. Colin pointed
out in detail numerous misstatements with regard to the CBS deal
with Paramount, the motion picture company.
The disclosure brought a reproof to the FCC from Chairman
Wheeler, of the Interstate Commerce Committee, who said:
"Everyone of these governmental commissions ought to be
extremely careful not to make misstatements of fact regarding
any company. Such action brings the commission into disrespect. ”
Earlier Chairman Wheeler and other members of the Senate
Committee rebuked Mr. Colin for his sharp language in criticizing
Senator Tobey (R), of New Hampshire, for his attack on CBS and
William S. Paley, its President, during the previous Brown hearing.
Senator Wheeler called Mr. Colin's statement, in which
on June 21 in a statement to the press he charged Senator Tobey
with making false statements and deliberately attempting to injure
CBS and Mr. Paley, "entirely unjustified” even if the information
on which Senator Tobey' s remarks were based was incorrect.
Senator Tobey and other members of the Committee had
criticized the network and its officers on the basis of charges
made in the FCC monopoly report, prepared by a Committee headed by
Commissioner Brown.
Senator Reed (R), of Kansas, joined Senator Wheeler in
the condemnation and suggested that Mr. Colin "correct" his state¬
ment in your own interest”. He labelled the attack on Senator
Tobey as "outrageous”.
Mr. Colin persistently refused to withdraw the statement
or make an apology, but at the conclusion of the hearing he said
- 2 -
7/12/40
that if he had known all the circumstances at the time and had not
been trying to ’’beat a deadline” he "might have thought differ¬
ently. ”
”1 withdraw any charge of malice against Senator Tobey”,
he said.
Senate action on Commissioner Brown's renomination was
delayed until after the Congressional recess for the Democratic
convention as Senator Tobey said he still had more questions to
ask the nominee.
While Commissioner Brown did not take the stand, he was
asked several times for an explanation of statements appearing in
the monopoly report.
After the Commissioner had turned each time to his aides
who prepared the report for advice before answering, Senator Tobey
observed that Mr. Brown appeared "ignorant " of what is contained
in the report.
At one stage of the proceedings Senator Neely (D), of
West Virginia, complained that the inquiry seemed to be "going
far afield" of the matter before the Committee, and Senator Wheeler
observed that it should be confined more to the "question of the
general fitness of the nominee for office".
Meanwhile, the FCC is operating as a six-man agency and
there is some question as to whether Commissioner Brown, when and
if confirmed, will be able to collect back salary to July 1, when
his new appointment was intended to begin. FCC officials said he
would draw back salary, while others suggested that the Comptroller
General will have to pass upon the question.
The CBS-Paramount deal, which was the basis of the Tobey
criticism, was explained at length by Mr. Colin, who pointed out
in detail wherein the FCC monopoly report was wrong in reporting
fact and in its conclusions and implications.
Afterward Chairman Wheeler commented that he saw nothing
irregular in the transaction in which Mr. Paley is reputed to
have made $1,000,000.
Mr. Colin explained that CBS had doubled its shares of
stock in 1929 and sold them to Paramount in exchange for 58,823
shares of the movie company’s stock. Paramount agreed to buy back
its own stock at the end of two years at $85 a share providing CBS
earned $1,000,000 a year or more in the interim.
As the stock market crash occurred before the expiration
of the two-year period, Paramount, when confronted with the demand
decided to sell its CBS holdings to raise the necessary cash. CBS,
thereupon bought 14,156 of the 63,250 shares held by Paramount out
of its surplus, and 15 CBS stockholders bought the remainder.
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The profit came to Mr. Paley and other stockholders
through the subsequent sale of this CBS stock to investment bank¬
ers at $82.21 a share, which was the value fixed by Paramount,
although the book value was far less.
Mr. Colin insisted that minority stockholders, as well
as the majority, profited by the transaction.
X X X X X X
NEW FCC RULES AIMED AT "
X X
fifth columnists”
New rules obviously designed to prevent "Fifth Column"
activities in the radio communications field were adopted this week
by the Federal Communications Commission. They prohibit, among
other things, damage to apparatus, false signals, and malicious
interferences by either amateur or commercial radio operators.
The new rules governing commercial radio operators are:
Sec. 13.64 Obedience to lawful orders. All licensed radio
operators shall obey and carry out the lawful orders of the master
or person lawfully in charge of the ship or aircraft on which they
are employed.
Sec. 13.65 Damage to apparatus. No licensed radio operator
shall willfully damage, or cause or permit to be damaged, any radio
apparatus or installation in any licensed radio station.
Sec. 13.66 Unnecessary, unidentified, or superfluous communi¬
cations. No licensed radio operator shall transmit unnecessary,
unidentified, or superfluous radio communications or signals.
Sec. 13.67. Obscenity, indecency, profanity. No licensed
radio operator or other person shall transmit communications con¬
taining obscene, indecent, or profane words, language, or meaning.
Sec. 13.68. False signals. No licensed radio operator shall
transmit false or deceptive signals or communications by radio, or
any call letter or signal which has not been assigned by proper
authority to the radio station he is operating.
Sec. 13.69. Interference . No licensed radio operator shall
willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to
any radio communication or signal.
Sec. 13.70. Fraudulent licenses. No licensed radio operator
or other person shall obtain or attempt to obtain, or assist
another to obtain or attempt to obtain, an operator’s license by
fraudulent means.
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The new rules governing amateur radio stations and
operators are:
Sec. 12.156 Obscenity, indecency, profanity. No licensed
radio operator or other person shall transmit communications con¬
taining obscene, indecent, or profane words, language, or meaning.
Sec. 12.157 Fhlse signals. No licensed radio operator
shall transmit false or deceptive signals or communications by
radio, or any call letter or signal which has not been assigned by
proper authority to the radio station he is operating.
Sec. 12.158 Unidentified communications. No licensed radio
operator shall transmit unidentified radio communications or sig¬
nals.
Sec. 12.159 Interference. No licensed radio operator shall
willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to
any radio communication or signal.
Sec. 12.160 Damage to apparatus. No licensed radio operator
shall willfully damage, or cause or permit to be damaged, any
radio apparatus or installation in any licensed radio station.
Sec. 12.161 Fraudulent licenses. No licensed radio operator
or other person shall obtain or attempt to obtain, or assist another
to obtain or attempt to obtain, an operator license by fraudulent
means.
xxxxxxxxxx
WAR CLOSES FRANCE MARKET FOR IMPORTED RADIOS
Even before its capitulation to Germany, France was
practically closed as a market for imported radio sets and parts
from the United States, the U. S. Commerce Department disclosed
this week.
Releasing a report which was completed before the
French invasion, the Commerce Department quoted the American
Consul in Paris thus:
HThe war has practically closed the market in France
for imported radio sets and parts. The domestic industry, built
up under the protection of restrictive quotas for several years,
is able to satisfy all ordinary demands. War-time restriction
of imports, permitted only under special license and subject to
the grant of foreign exchange permits, is being administered so
as to admit only such products from abroad as are not obtainable
in France and are essential to the national war-time economy. n
XXXXXXXXX
- 5 -
7/12/40
U. S. BROADCASTS POPULAR IN LATIN AMERICA
Increasing popularity in Latin America of radio programs
originating in the United States is indicated in consular reports
reaching the Department of Commerce from the Latin American
countries, according to John H. Payne, Chief of the Electrical
Division.
While it is frequently reported that reception in cer¬
tain of the countries is not good, due to adverse atmospheric
conditions or technical limitations, the excellent quality of the
programs is commented upon in most of the communications.
Mr. Payne said that transmission of radio programs to
Latin America is considered of mutual benefit, since it makes
available in that region many of the high quality programs heard
in the United States and at the same time is a medium through
which the Latin American public is informed of our customs,
culture and endeavors.
News reports emanating from American short-wave broad¬
casting stations have probably acted as the greatest single factor
in enhancing the popularity of American broadcasts among Latin
American listeners. Mr. Payne believes, too, that emphasis on
entertainment value which characterizes American broadcasts also
contributes greatly to their popularity.
Publication in newspapers and other periodicals in Latin
America of schedules of short-wave radio programs originating in
the United States and beamed directly on Latin America is being
effected by the Department of Commerce in close cooperation with
the Department of State, the Radio Manufacturers’ Association and
the radio broadcasting industry. Mr. Payne indicated that a
greater volume of short-wave programs is put on the air by American
broadcasters than in any foreign country.
Weekly schedules of forthcoming radio programs, espec¬
ially prepared or selected on the basis of known preferences of
radio listeners in Latin America and frequently presented in the
languages most widely understood in that area, are distributed
in Latin American countries through the Foreign Offices of the
United States G-overnment.
At the present time, seven companies operating eleven
short-wave radio stations located in New York, N.Y. , Schenectady,
N.Y. , Boston, Mass., Philadelphia, Pa.., Pittsburgh, Pa., Cincinnati,
Ohio, and San Francisco, Calif. , are transmitting these programs
daily to Latin America.
xxxxxxxx
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FCC MAKES DECISION IN HEITMEYER AND FRONTIER CASES
The Federal Communications Commission this week announced
decisions with respect to docket cases involving construction of
new radio broadcast stations at Cheyenne, Wyo.
It denied a motion of Paul R. Heitmeyer to grant without
further hearing his application for a construction permit but com¬
plied with his alternative request that his application be dis¬
missed. At the same time, the Commission granted the petition of
the Frontier Broadcasting Company to reconsider Commission action
in remanding its application for hearing and granted the same with¬
out further hearing.
In doing so it authorized the Frontier Company to oper¬
ate on 1420 kilocycles, with power of 100 watts night, 250 watts
until local sunset, unlimited time of operation, subject to condi¬
tion that permittee file within a period of two months an appli¬
cation for modification of construction permit specifying the
exact transmitter location and antenna system proposed to be
installed.
NEWSPAPERS AGAIN ADVISED TO SEEK FM LICENSES
Editor & Publisher, organ of the newspaper publishers,
last week again advised newspapers to seek frequency modulation
licenses so that the broadcasting of news '’will not fall into
incompetent hands". In an editorial it said:
"Several comments on the editorial which appeared here
last week informed us that the Federal Communications Commission
is now receiving applications for commercial operation of frequency
modulation radio stations. Several stations, including some news¬
papers, are already working on an experimental basis, and commer¬
cial operation will be permitted on and after Jan. 1, 1941, to all
licensed by the FCC. Forms for application were released by the
Commission July 1. It is stated that the applications will
receive immediate action.
"We mentioned that commercial broadcasting by FM may
be approved as of Jan. 1, 1941. That approval has already been
given, but applicants should not take it as a guarantee of com¬
mercial support. Our own view is that FM will take months, if
not years, of nursing before the amount of income available to it
will suffice to support the number of potential stations. Only a
few thousand receivers equipped to take FIJI signals are now in the
hands of the public, and, until that condition is changed, the
field for commercial broadcasts is limited.
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"Nevertheless, we repeat our advice that newspapers
generally should seek FM licenses. The cost of supporting an FM
station during experimental commercial stages can well be regarded
as insurance against formidable local competition, and insurance to
the public also that the function of furnishing news by radio will
not fall into incompetent hands. "
No new FM applications have been received by the FCC to
date. A Commission spokesman suggested that the forms were so
complicated that applicants need a little time to understand them.
XXXXXXXXXX
BROADCASTERS SEEK WAGE-HOUR MODIFICATION
Broadcasters will seek a redefinition of the term
"executive" in the wage and hour regulations at a hearing before
the Wage and Hour Division of the Labor Department July 25 in
Washington.
Many stations, particularly smaller ones, have found it
difficult to comply with the definition of executive, as interpre¬
ted by the Wage a.nd Hour Division. The regulations prescribe that
bona fide executives, professional workers, outside salesmen, and
others in similar classifications, shall be exempt from overtime
provisions of the Act. In its interpretations of October, 1938,
the Division held that executives must be paid $30 per week and
direct work of others as the head of a department, have the power
to hire and fire, or make recommendations on retention or release
of personnel.
The interpretation further specified that executives
"shall do no substantial amount of work of the same character as
that performed by non-exempt employees. " It is this provision
that has worked undue hardship on stations, since chief announcers,
chief engineers, and program department heads in many cases per¬
form operating functions along with members of their staffs.
Joseph L. Miller, NAB Labor Relations Director, has fil¬
ed an appearance for the July 25 hearing before Harold Stein,
Assistant Director of the hearings branch of the Division.
xxxxxxxxx
So that radio listeners may make their own transcribed
versions of notable radio programs, General Electric’s Radio
Department has announced a new home recording record player. The
new unit has facilities not only for making transcriptions or
original recordings on blank disks, but for playing records of any
type in conjunction with a modern radio, thus combining the func¬
tions of record player and recorder.
XXXXXXXXX
- 8 -
7/12/40
EXTENSIVE NAZI RADIO NET SEEN BY PICK-UPS
C-ermany, which has utilized radio with considerable
success in the present war, may now be linking radio stations in
countries it has conquered into an extensive network. Evidence
that such a thing is being done comes from American short-wave
listening posts, which have heard announcements recently that ten
or more stations are linked to handle the same program.
Among the powerful short-wave stations no longer heard
independently in this country are those of Eindhoven and Paris.
Prague disappeared some time ago. Berlin and Rome continue to
come in with regularly scheduled programs.
Generally, only three or four of the stations are picked
up in this country, the New York Times notes, since they operate
on short waves. The others are standard broadcast waves that do
not span the Atlantic. Prague was the first to be added to the
Nazi chain, and the stations of Poland were next. Since then
Oslo, Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris have been annexed.
According to operators in New York, constantly listening in on
Europe, the Naxis dominate the air.
This week five short-wave stations were heard - Berlin,
Paris, Amsterdam, Rome and Belgrade - handling the same program,
apparently originating at the Rome end of the Axis, the Times
reported. The announcer was Italian. American listeners were
puzzled at Belgrade being in the hook-up.
"It’s all very confusing”, explained an operator at one
of the receiving outposts on Long Island. "We can’t make out what
goes on over there. We aren't linguists, so can only report that
the broadcasts appear as news, probably propaganda, martial airs
and waltzes. We even hear Berling through Rome. "
Press Wireless, Inc. later tuned in a station, apparently
rebroadcasting a German program, which identified itself in English
as JZK, Japan.
The station, heard on 15,160 kilocycles, was said to
have broadcast the program simultaneously with the German- control led
Paris Mondial transmitter. Programs originating in Germany al¬
ready have been picked up from a hook-up taking in France, Italy,
the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway.
XXXXXXXXX
Increasing its daily schedule to include a special
three-hour program of full-fidelity recordings, Major Edwin H.
Armstrong's high-powered FM station, W2XMN, at Alnine, N.J. , is
now being heard Mondays through Saturdays from 10" a. in. to 1 p.m. ,
EST. In addition, W2XMN continues its regular transmission of
Columbia Broadcasting System programs from 4 to 11 p.m. each week¬
day, Mondays through Fridays, and from 3 to 6 o.m. on Sundays.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 9 -
7/12/40
COASTAL HARBOR RADIOTELEPHONE FREQUENCIES CHANGED
Ship radiotelephone stations which now communicate or
intend to communicate with the pub 3. ic coastal harbor radio sta¬
tions at Ocean Gate, N.J. ; Delaware City, Del.; Tampa, Fla., and
New Orleans, La., were reminded this week of changes in the exist¬
ing frequencies of these four stations, effective August 1.
Ocean Gate will use 2558 kilocycles in place of the
2522 kilocycles now employed, and ships transmitting to Ocean Gate
will change over from 2126 to 2166 kilocycles, the FCC stated.
Delaware City will employ 2558 instead of 2522 kilo¬
cycles, and ships transmitting to Delaware City will use 2166
instead of 2126 kilocycles.
Tempa will supplant 2598 with 2550 kilocycles, and com¬
municating ships will change from 2206 to 2158 kilocycles.
New Orleans will move from 2558 to 2598 kilocycles,
and ships transmitting there will substitute 2206 for 2166 kilo¬
cycles.
Ships in contact with these points must adjust their
equipment accordingly.
The changed frequencies are necessitated by the modi¬
fied regional working arrangement to improve short-distance mari¬
time radiotelephone service of Canada and the United States, which
went into effect May 1 last. Other stations will reta.in their
present frequencies.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who has been broadcasting on
current topics Tuesday and Thursday a.fternoons over forty-three
outlets of the National Broadcasting Company’s Blue Network, will
not be signed for a new series when her contract expires July 25,
according to the Franklin Bruck Agency, which handles the account
for her sponsors, the Manhattan Soap Company.
The University of Berlin recently established a chair
for the study and teaching of the scientific, technical and
educational aspects of radio as one of its many new departments.
The department is under the direction of Prof. Dr. Kurt Wagenfuehr,
who is proceeding with his work in collaboration with many not¬
able experts in the field of radio broadcasting and research.
XXXXXXXXXX
10
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PHILCO SHARES QUICKLY BOUGHT BY PUBLIC
Initial public financing on behalf of Philco Corporation,
the largest radio receiver manufacturer in the United States, was
carried out successfully Thursday through the offering of 325,000
shares of common stock by an underwriting syndicate headed by Smith,
Barney & Co. , according to the business page of the New York Times.
The stock was priced at $15 a share. Of the total shares offered,
150,000 shares were for the account of the company and 175,000
shares for the account of certain stockholders.
Formal offering of the stock was made before the opening
of normal trading activities Thursday morning. The issue was over¬
subscribed by 1 P.M. , and the syndicate managers formally announced
at 3:20 P.M. that the books had been closed.
The net proceeds to be received by the company from the
sale of 150,000 shares of common stock, estimated to be $1,908,829
after deducting estimated expenses, will be used, with such addi¬
tional funds from the general funds of the company as may be
required, to retire and cancel all the outstanding $5 preference
stock.
Net proceeds from the sale of the remaining 175,000
common shares will not be received by the company inasmuch as these
shares are being sold by certain stockholders. Since the com¬
pany’s common stock has heretofore been held by a relatively small
number of stockholders, principally officers and employees, certain
stockholders agreed to sell simultaneously as much of their stock
as they were advised by the bankers as desirable for the purpose
of creating a satisfactory public market. After the sale of the
shares, the company’s officers, directors and employees will still
own, of record or beneficially, approximately 68 percent of the
company’s total common stock.
Underwriting discounts or commissions on the whole offer¬
ing amounts to $568,750, or $1.75 a share, leaving gross proceeds
to both the company and the stockholders who sold part of their
holdings of $4,306,250. Upon completion of this financing, the
capitalization of Philco Corporation will consist solely of an
authorized issue of 2,000,000 shares of $3 par value common stock,
of which 1,371,000 shares will be outstanding. The company has
no funded debt of any kind.
xxxxxxxxxx
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
INDEX TO ISSUE OF JULY 16, 1940
FTC Amplifies Report On Radio Ads Examined In 1939 . 2
NAB Seeks "Free Radio" In Democratic Platform . 4
(- Zenith Welcomes Test Case With Trade Commission . 5
Naming of Communications Defense Board Awaited . 7
FCC Working On Treaty Reallocations, Says Fly . 8
Commission Must Act On Requests For Monopoly Protest . 8
Stations Don't Have To Quote Rates, Says FCC . 9
Party Conventions Prove Expensive To Networks . 10
Radio Men Invited To Join R. A. F. By British . . . 10
Niles Trammell Named President of NBC . 11
E. & P. Sees Advantage For Newspaper Advertisers . 12
Story Of Television Told By 11 Experts . 12
WASHINGTON, D. C.
’
legal department
In) j
No. 1250
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July 16, 1940
FTC AMPLIFIES REPORT ON RADIO ADS EXAMINED IN 1939
Additional data on the analyses of radio and periodical
advertising made by the Radio and Periodical Division of the
Federal Trade Commission were released this week as a supplement
to the report issued April 13.
"Of the total 334,532 commercial radio continuities
examined during the first half of the calendar year 1939, (later
data not available), 15,390 originated from commercial broadcasts
by nation-wide networks", the FTC stated. "Of these latter con¬
tinuities, 22.2$ were marked and referred for further investiga¬
tion.
"Owing to the obvious interstate appeal of advertisers
utilizing the broadcast facilities of nation-wide networks,
copies of network commercial continuities are procured on a con¬
tinuous weekly basis, and the commercial script examined, there¬
fore, comprised all such network announcements .
"Commercial radio continuities are procured from indivi¬
dual station broadcasters, (for non-network broadcasts) uniformly
as to frequency and length of period sampled, (and irrespective
of transmittal power) ; with returns being staggered and propor¬
tionated throughout the year.
"From the total 305,787 commercial continuities examined
in script rendered by individual station broadcasters, 150,192
comprised commercial continuities broadcast by medium-powered
regional stations. Of these latter continuities, 3.3$ were marked
for further investigation.
"On a whole, it was observed that the average commercial
continuities representing nation-wide network broadcasts, were
about 7 times the script length of those rendered for individual
station commercial announcements.
"Commercial continuities covering the built-in commercial
portions of electrical transcription recordings intended for radio
broadcasts, are procured on a continuous monthly basis direct from
the producers of such recordings. (Therefore, while the continuity
data. presented for this type of broadcast, represented all com¬
mercial recordings of the producers, there is no data available
to indicate the number, or period of time that copies of such
recordings, may have been repeated over the air through the facil¬
ities of multiple stations.)
"The completed tabulation, showing other particulars
representing each group type of broadcaster whose commercial con-
- 2 -
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7/16/40
tinuities were included in the advertising surveys during the
first half of 1939, are given in the data presented below,
(individual broadcasters are grouped according to their respective
authorized maximum night transmittal power, prevailing during
the broadcast period reported upon. ) "
Comme rcial
Continuities
Broadcasters Surveyed
Type of Broadcaster
Maximum Night Power
Quantity
Examined
Per Cent
Marked
Script
Procured
Stations or Net¬
works Recre sente d
Nation-Wide Networks
15,390
22. 2$
100$
3
Regional Networks
9,228
6. 5$
100$
22
Total All Networks
24,618
16.4 $
100$
25
Individual :
Low Local
(100 watts)
113,927
2.3 $
16-2/3$
308
Med. Regional
(1,000 watts)
150,192
3. 5%
16-2/3$
252
High Regional
(10 kw)
19, 736
4.4 $
16-2/3$
36
Clear Channel
(Inc. Special High)
(25 Kw-300 Kw)
21,932
7.0$
16-2/3$
36
Total Individual
Station
305,787
3.5%
100$
632
Transcriptions
4,127
13.4%
100$
—
334,532 4. 2$
’’The percentages and other statistics presented relate
only to the initiation of inquiry and are not necessarily repre¬
sentative of any final adverse action taken by the Commission",
the report explained.
"In analyzing advertising survey data of this Commission,
which may be procured through its Radio and Periodical Division,
consideration should be given to the fact that this data is derived
only from representative, selected advertising mediums, and select¬
ed advertisements therein, deemed pertinent to the Division’s and
the Commission's work. Resultant marked specimens of advertising,
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7/16/40
often originate from similar individual advertising mediums;
and the surveys do not comprise a complete coverage of all
magazines or newspapers or all radio commercial broadcasts.
"Owing to the limited size of examining staff available
and the large volume of local commercial radio announcements
broadcast, such commercial continuities are procured from individ¬
ual station broadcasters, (non-network) , on an equal representative
basis. However, for practical use by the Commission, experience
has proved that the commercial script rendered, includes current
representative specimens of practically any national or regional
advertising campaign of consequence, pertaining to products in
commerce, disseminated through such broadcasters.
"Many commercial radio continuities and published
advertisements marked in the preliminary stage as warranting
further investigation, may pertain to respective cases already
receiving legal attention in the Commission; and various specimens
included, may be only duplicates of similar representations pre¬
viously observed, or also in process of appropriate attention;
and the number of marked specimens tabulated, do not of them¬
selves signify the existence of a like number of cases, prospect¬
ive or pending. "
XXXXXXXXXX
NAB SEEKS "FREE RADIO" IN DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
The broadcasting industry will try to get the Democrats
to include "free radio" plank in the convention platform this
week.
Since the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia
June 19 unanimously adopted a radio plank endorsing the principle
of free radio on a parity with the press, it is expected that
the . Democratic Convention will follow through in similar fashion,
Neville Miller, President of the National Association of Broad¬
casters, and members of the NAB’ Legislative Committee will appear
before the Democratic Resolutions Committee on behalf of such a
plank.
In addition to Mr. Miller, it is likely that Harry C.
Butcher, CBS Washington Vice-President and member of the Legislat¬
ive Committee; John A. Kennedy, West Virginia Network, Chairman
of the Legislative Committee, and F. M. Russell, NBC Washington
Vice-President, will appear before the Democratic Board.
XXXXXXXXXX
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7/16/40
ZENITH WELCOMES TEST CASE WITH TRADE COMISSION
E. F. McDonald, Jr. , President of the Zenith Radio
Corporation, Chicago, this week stated that he welcomes the test
case instituted late last week by the Federal Trade Commission
against Zenith for alleged misleading advertising.
"Information released by the Federal Trade Commission
at Washington indicates that a formal complaint was issued
against the Zenith Radio Corporation because of certain advertis¬
ing practices", Commander McDonald said. "The points of this
case have been discussed at length by Zenith, the Radio Manu¬
facturers* Association and many members of the industry with the
FTC over a period of years and its disposition will represent
the first complete determination of the questions involved. Behind
all the legal wording of this complaint is the first step in a
friendly proceeding to attempt to give test case background to
several points raised by the Commission.
"First, they desire to stop the advertising of ballast
resistors as tubes, a practice which has long since been abandoned
not only by Zenith but other major manufacturers of the industry.
"Second, to ascertain whether magic eye tubes, recti¬
fier tubes and other special purpose tubes should properly be
referred to as tubes in advertising. These tubes have been des¬
cribed as tubes by the manufacturers and the industry generally in
the forty million radios that are now in use.
"It also strangely appears from this complaint that the
Commission questions whether a radio may be sold for the reception
of foreign programs and whether it is proper to advertise the fact
that German, French, Russian and Italian short-wave broadcasts
are now conducted in English.
"Zenith welcomes the test case as I feel sure will the
entire industry. "
Zenith was charged in the FTC complaint with mislead¬
ingly advertising the number of tubes contained in its radio
receiving sets and the power and capacity of such sets for foreign
receotion.
#
The complaint alleged that Zenith has advertised, among
other things:
"Zenith Short-Wave Radios are guaranteed to bring
in Europe, South America, or the Orient every day or
your money back’ * * *"
"Positively the greatest 1940 Zenith values ever
offered ten- tube supe rheterodyne^^eleven-tube super-
heterodyne*’-55""’ radio console with eight tubes *** the
- 5 ~
7/16/40
amazing new 1940 eight- tube, three band Radiorgan
Zenith long distance radio *** six tubes! Push but¬
tons.1 Long and short-wave *** six-tube heterodyne
with wave magnet aerial, two-button Radiogram. ,f
"These representations and others made by the respond¬
ent", the FTC charged, "are misleading, for in truth the Zenith
radio sets are not equipped with six, eight, ten or eleven active,
necessary, fully functioning tubes, but contain one or two, or
more ballast non-functioning, or tuning beacon tubes, or rectifier
tubes which do not serve as amplifying, detecting, or oscillating
tubes and do not perform any recognized and customary function
of a radio receiving tube in the detection, amplification and
reception of radio signals.
"Contrary to the respondent's representations", the FTC
added, "Zenith radio sets equipped with such tubes will not bring
in broadcasts from London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Rome, and other
points in Europe and from South America and the Orient in suf¬
ficient volume, free from static, to be distinctly heard at all
times and under all conditions, "
The complaint grants Zenith 20 days for filing answer
to the charges.
Criticism of the Trade Commission's procedure in public¬
izing complaints before the respondent has an opportunity to
answer them was criticized last week by representatives of the
Association of National Advertisers. C. S. McMillan, ANA Secre¬
tary, and I. W. Digges, ANA counsel, attacked various phases of
Federal Trade Commission procedure at a hearing of the Attorney
General's Committee on Administrative Procedure in Washington.
During the last several weeks the Committee has been holding hear¬
ings at which private parties are given an opportunity of voicing
their suggestions on procedure of Government administrative agen¬
cies.
The ANA representatives' principal criticism lay with
the FTC procedure in issuing complaints against business concerns
"relating to alleged falsity of advertising claims before there
has been any determination on the merits of such claims". Mr.
McMillan declared this practice on complaints "often results in
very real damage to national corporations", since the publicity
accorded complaints may be used by competitors to damage a concern
and also makes a bad impression on the public. Mr. Digges recom¬
mended that complaints be withheld until the defendants have an
opportunity to answer, and that both sides of the case be made
public simultaneously.
XXXXXXXXXX
6
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7/16/40
NAMING- OF COMMUNICATIONS DEFENSE BOARD AWAITED
Announcement of the appointment of a Defense Communi¬
cations Committee comprising Government officials concerned with
radio and wire regulation was expected to be made at the White
House this week or next.
James L. Fly, Chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission, stated at his press conference on Monday that all
preliminary work had been done and that the matter is in the
P re s i dent 1 s hands .
A suggestion by Neville Miller, President of the National.
Association of Broadcasters, that a communications expert from the
industry be appointed to serve with the National Defense Commis¬
sion headed by William S. Knudsen, has not met with the approval
of Chairman Fly.
Whether this difference of opinion has caused a delay in
the creation of the Communications Committee was not known
definitely.
Mr. Miller suggested in a letter to Chairman Fly that
an outstanding communications authority should be appointed to
the Defense Commission to give the industry the same representa¬
tion accorded other fields. Mr. Fly, however, points out that
co-ordination of activities is required for communications, where¬
as the Defense Commission deals principally with procurement
problems.
While Mr. Fly declares the industry will be consulted
if the plan for a separate governmental board is approved, industry
is said to be apprehensive that a Board composed entirely of
Government officials would be a forerunner of Government operation.
Although Government officials disclaim such intention, it is known
that certain FCC members are inclined toward this objective.
Sub-committees representing the various branches of the
communications industry are expected to be appointed as aides to
the governmental Communications Committee.
XXXXXXXXX
Selection of the winner of the Paley Amateur Radio Award
for 1939 has been waived by the Board of Judges. This action was
suggested by the American Radio Relay League because, in its opin¬
ion, no candidate was named whose accomplishments in "research,
technical development or operating achievement" justified pre¬
sentation. William S. Paley, President of the Columbia Broadcast¬
ing System, is donor of the prize.
XXXX XXXXXXX
- 7 -
7/16/40
FCC WORKING ON TREATY REALLOCATIONS, SAYS FLY
The staff of the Federal Communications Commission is
busily engaged in preparing proposed reallocations of most of the
nation1 s broadcasting stations in accordance with the provisions
of the Havana Treaty, Chairman James L. Fly stated this week.
At the same time he indicated that the reallocation may
not take place in the early Fall, as had been anticipated, by
explaining that the October 1st date was fixed at the time when
broadcast licenses would expire and not as the time when the re¬
allocation necessarily would become effective.
Meanwhile, reports were current that the FCC is divided
on the question of retaining clear channels as provided in the
treaty and the broadcasting industry was represented as being
deeply concerned over the Commission's delay in making the Havana
pact operative.
XXXXXXXXX
COMMISSION MUST ACT ON REQUESTS FOR MONOPOLY PROTEST
The Federal Communications Commission must determine
whether it will accept briefs in opposition to provisions of the
monopoly report, Chairman James L. Fly stated this week in res¬
ponse to questions. He explained that the Columbia Broadcasting
System already has asked permission to file such a brief.
The Chairman's statement was made despite the fact that
he did not contradict John J. Burns, special counsel for the
Columbia Broadcasting System, when he told the Senate Interstate
Commerce Committee last week that Mr. Fly had indicated that all
parties would be accorded the privilege of filing briefs. The
FCC Chairman was present at the time.
CBS counsel has charged that the report, so far as it
concerns Columbia, is full of errors and "unwarranted" conclusions,
especially with regard to the CBS-Paramount deal.
xxxxxxxx
World Radio Market reports issued recently by the U. S.
Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce include the following:
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Belgian Congo, Costa Rica, and Iceland.
XXXXXXXX
- 8 -
7/16/40
STATIONS DON’T HAVE TO QUOTE RATES,
SAYS FCC
A New Yorker inquires of the Federal Communications
’’whether a company operating a commercial radio station is under
a duty to quote rates for time not sold and to sell such time if
its rates are met." Under the Communications Act a radio broad¬
cast station is expressly declared not to be a common carrier,
the Commission replied. Accordingly, except the provision which
relates to candidates for public office, a radio broadcast station
is under no obligation to quote rates or sell time. Hence a radio
broadcast station is unlike some other classes of radio stations -
notably radiotelegraph and radiotelephone which have the status
of common carriers and are required to furnish service in accord¬
ance with tariffs filed with the Commission.
From the same city comes a lone letter protesting cer¬
tain restrictions imposed upon amateurs at the present time. By
way of explanation, the Commission replied in part:
” Although it is realized that these orders will probably
cause inconvenience and annoyance to some of the amateur operators,
the Commission feels that the recent restrictions and requirements
are not only entirely justified but that they are necessary actions
in the interests of neutrality and national defense. From the
responses received from amateur organizations and individual
amateurs throughout the country, it appears that the amateurs
themselves are appreciative of the reasons necessitating the adop¬
tion of these orders and that they will fully cooperate in their
enforcement. As you are undoubtedly aware, this Commission is
cognizant of the valuable services rendered to radio and the na¬
tion by its amateurs and has on numerous occasions made public its
appreciation of those services. The Commission does not believe
that the order requiring more detailed proof of citizenship than
has been required in the past can be construed as an indication of
distrust of the American amateurs. This is also true as to the
commercial operator to whom that order also applies. Requiring
fingerprints is not an indication of suspicion. You will be inter¬
ested to know that all Federal employees under Civil Service have
been required to submit fingerprints for a number of years. "
Since the Commission lacks jurisdiction in the matter,
it has suggested to a Palm Beach woman that she submit to independ¬
ent stations and networks a prayer that she wants to be broadcast
twice daily throughout the United States.
In response to query from Chicago, the Commission advis¬
ed that there is no rule or regulation pertaining to the solicita¬
tion of funds over the air, a.nd that the matter is one within the
discretion of station management.
The Commission said it is likewise without authority to
take remedial action with respect to the following complaints:
9
7/16/40
A Brooklyn, N.Y. , man is irked because a network sub¬
stituted an address by Winston Churchill for the usual baseball
program.
A Washington, D. C. , man alleges failure of a network
to advise the listening audience concerning the reconvening of the
Republican National Convention.
A San Francisco listener takes issue with the “man in
the street” type of programs.
A Bronx, N.Y. , individual would bar the radio to minor¬
ity groups.
A Lynn, Mass. , florist dislikes radio advice to purchase
hosiery for Mother’s Day gifts rather than flowers.
xxxxxxxxx
PARTY CONVENTIONS PROVE EXPENSIVE TO NETWORKS
The Republican and Democratic conventions will cost the
major networks well over $500,000, it appeared this week, as
accurate reports on the Philadelphia hook-ups were released.
The networks lost in commercial accounts and paid out of
their pockets a total of $564,700 to cover the Republican conclave,
of which more than $300,000 was for rebates made to advertisers
whose programs were cancelled.
The Democratic convention is not expected to be quite
so expensive, especially if it continues only four days as has
been predicted.
The detailed expenses of the networks at Philadelphia
were :
Out-of-pocket costs of convention coverage were set at
$15,000 by NBC, $25,000 by CBS and $8,000 by MBS, a total of
$4'8,000. Commercial cancellations cost NBC $87,500 for time and
$58,000 for talent rebates. CBS lost $125,000 in time charges
and $45,000 in talent rebates. Mutual concalleations totaled $1,200.
XXXXXXXXXX
RADIO MEN INVITED TO JOIN R.A.F. BY BRITISH
An appeal to American radio operators and fliers to en¬
list in the Royal Air Force via Canada came this week from Great
Britain through American correspondents.
The service for radio operators, it was said, would be
both on the ground and in the air. Ground operators would be
acceptable up to 50 years of age although the age limit for fliers
is 18 to 32.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 10 -
7/16/40
NILES TRAMMELL NAMED PRESIDENT OF NBC
Niles Trammell, Executive Vice-President, was elected
President of the National Broadcasting Company at the regular
meeting of the Board of Directors in New York City last Friday.
He succeeds Lenox R. Lohr, who resigned to accept the post of
President of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Mr.
Lohr' s resignation, announced June 7th, was accepted at the NBC
Board meeting, and Mr. Trammell was elected as his successor.
The announcement, made by David Samoff, Chairman of
the Board of the National Broadcasting Company, stated.
"The National Broadcasting Company at its regular meet¬
ing of Directors held here (New York City) today, accepted the
resignation of Lenox R. Lohr as President, tendered on June 7th.
The Board unanimously expressed its appreciation for Mr. Lohr’ s
devotion and service to the company and its good wishes for his
continued success in the new work he has chosen.
"Niles Trammell, who for the past 18 months has been
Executive Vice-President of the NBC, was then elected by the Board
as the new President of the National Broadcasting Company.
"In electing Mr. Trammell, the Board has promoted to the
presidency a man who has risen from the ranks of the company. He
began his career with the RCA in 1923, and joined the National
Baordcasting Company in 1928, where he has achieved outstanding
success as a broadcasting executive both in Chicago and in New
York. He now brings to the position of President, 17 years of
experience in communications, merchandising and broadcasting.
"Mr. Trammell is 46 years of age. It is a distinction
to a young industry that it has produced from its ranks a young
executive of his type. Mr. Trammell's successive advances in posi¬
tions of responsibility with the NBC have been made as the broad¬
casting industry grew from small beginnings to a nation-wide ser¬
vice of entertainment, information and education, and as a medium
of vital service to commerce and industry.
"His intimate knowledge of broadcasting, his popularity
and wide acquaintanceship in all segments of the industry, and his
contributions to the development of nation-wide broadcasting, are
important assets of the company he now heads. "
xxxxxxxxx
The following appeared in the syndicated column of Harlan
Miller, Washington columnist:
"Lady Bountiful: Mrs. Roosevelt has developed a great
fondness for making people gifts of radios. She buys them by the
wholesale, sometimes around a hundred a year, to give to friends
and acquaintances. Probably she buys more radio sets than any
other individual. "
XXXXXXXXX
- 11 -
E. & P. SEES ADVANTAGE FOR NEWSPAPER ADVERTISERS
Editor & Publisher last week called attention with a
note of sarcasm to the necessary cancellation of sponsored pro¬
grams during the political conventions.
"The Republican National Convention in Philadelphia,
the coming Democratic meeting, and a number of extra- inning ball
games have given national advertisers on the radio a foretaste of
what they can expect during the Fall political campaigns", It said
in an editorial. "Nearly two- score regularly scheduled advertis¬
ing programs were cut off or curtailed during the Philadelphia
meeting, so that the public could get all the thrills of a ring¬
side seat at the G. O.P. shindig.
"For the past decade, these conventions have been staged
as much for the radio as they have for the nomination of candidates,
it has seemed to some observers. Business has been strung out
over four or five days when it might well be concluded in two,
if business was the only consideration. Even the Democrats,
facing what seems to be a foregone conclusion of their meeting,
are likely to follow the four-day tradition.
"Radio advertisers have no choice in the matter. They
are committeed to continuity of schedule on their own part, but
the stations and networks exercise their privilege of cutting a
scheduled commercial whenever news of public interest emerges.
In any case, no advertiser’s message stands any chance of atten¬
tion in competition with the roar of a convention crowd, a succes¬
sion of staccato war bulletins, or the play-by-play of a tense
ball-game. When radio news is hot, the advertiser draws a shut-out.
"We commend that fact to our newspaper advertising
friends, the representatives, and the advertising agencies. If
advertising continuity and consistency has the value that the
radio salesmen place upon it, and we believe their argument, it
seems to us that it can be found best in newspaper columns. There
are only 24 hours around the clock twice, but there is no limit
today on the space available for advertising in newspapers. "
XXXXXXXXXX
STORY OF TELEVISION TOLD BY 11 EXPERTS
"We Present Television", a series of reports on the state
and history of visual broadcasting by 11 experts, has just recently
been released. Edited by John Porterfield and Kay Reynolds, it is
published by W. W. Norton & Co. , New York, and sells for $3.00.
Writers who have contributed to the volume are: Alfred
H. Morton, Vice President in Charge of Television for NBC; Donald
G. Fink, Managing Editor of "Electronics"; 0. B. Hanson, NBC Vice-
President and Chief Engineer; Charles E. Butterfield, radio writer;
J. R. Poppele, Chief Engineer of WOR; Thomas H. Hutchinson, NBC
Television Program Manager; Thomas Lyne Riley, NBC Television Dir¬
ector; Earle Larrimore, actor; Robert Edmond Jones, stage designer;
Benn Hall of Radii Daily, and Harry R. Lubcke, Director of Tele-
etor of Television for the Don Lee Broadcasting System, Los Angeles.
XXXXXXXX -12-
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
FCC And RMA Move To Break Television Deadlock . 2
Radio Freedom Shows Improvement, Says Union . 3
First Television Station For San Francisco Speeded . 4
Time Extension G-iven International Stations . 5
British Biggest Buyer Of U. S. Radios . 6
Six Attorneys Join FCC Law Department . 6
FCC Begins Hiring Radio Operators . 7
Democrats Place Radio On Plane With Press . 7
Westinghouse Device Stops Waste Of Radio Waves . . . 8
BBC Takes To Underground Cover . 9
Broadcast Coverage Increased Through Mutual Arrangement . 10
Trade Notes . . . . . 10
I. T. & T. Grets CAA Radio Equipment Order . 13
U. S. Radios Not Adapted For Tropics, Says Coogan . .....13
Radio Makers Ready For F-M Broadcasting
12
FCC AND RMA MOVE TO BREAK TELEVISION DEADLOCK
The Federal Communications Commission and the Radio
Manufacturers' Association moved jointly this week to expedite
the commercialization of television.
Following the suggestion of the FCC last May, when the
latest television regulations were issued, the RMA announced the
organization of a National Television Systems Committee which
includes non-members. Chairman James L. Fly, of the FCC, welcomed
the Committee as a "splendid opportunity for the cooperation of
industry and Government in the solution of a problem which is of
such timely concern to the public and to business. "
Organization of the RMA Committee was announced by Bond
Geddes, Executive Vice President, upon behalf of J. S. Knowlson,
the new President of the Association.
Invitations have been sent, it was said, to the follow¬
ing companies to nominate representatives on the Television Systems
Committee :
Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., Don Lee Broadcasting
System, Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc. , Farnsworth Television
Radio Corporation, General Electric Company, Hazeltine Corpora¬
tion, J. V. L. Hogan, Hughes Tool Company, Institute of Radio
Engineers, Philco Corporation, Radio Corporation of America,
Stromberg- Carl son Telephone Manufacturing Company, and Zenith
Radio Corporation.
Dr. W. R. G. Baker of Bridgeport, Conn. , Director of the
the RMA Engineering Department, and an official of General
Electric, has been appointed Chairman of the new National Tele¬
visions Systems Committee. The Chairman, while correlating the
work of the Committee, will have no vote.
"I think I am safe in saying that both the Commission
and RMA feel that in this way we are setting the vexing problem
of television standards on a path which will lead to a satis¬
factory solution", said Mr. Knowlson. "We are both encouraged to
feel that by so doing we are serving the interests of all concern¬
ed. "
A meeting of the Committee with Chairman Fly and pos¬
sibly the FCC Chief Engineer, E. K. Jett, was expected to be held
the latter part of this month, probably July 31, in New York City.
The FCC, in a formal release, stated that in following
through its promise of May 28th that it "stands ready to confer
with the television industry and otherwise assist in working out
2
7/19/40
television's remaining problems. H The Committee, the FCC said,
"should be of value in the advancement of television to a satis¬
factory level of performance that will insure a general and wide¬
spread public service. "
The Commission recently paved the way for an Increased
number of television stations throughout the country with a view
to crystalizing their experimentation with different systems into
a uniform standard upon which commercialized visual broadcasting
may be safely launched. A previous television hearing had reveal¬
ed a serious conflict of engineering opinion upon the question of
standards among the representatives of various responsible ele¬
ments in the Industry engaged in important research and experi¬
mental work.
"Because of the inadequacy of the various suggested
standards", the FCC continued, "the new group will explore exist¬
ing television systems with a view to developing and formulating
standards that will be acceptable to the industry as a whole in
expediting establishment of a single well-founded national system -
one which has promise of ultimately giving this country more tele¬
vision stations and receivers than all other nations combined,
with resultant benefits to manufacturers, dealers, and broadcasters,
as well as the public.
"This project, though sponsored by the Radio Manufactur¬
ers' Association, will operate independently and represent the
majority opinion of the industry. Membership will not be limited
to the association; it will embrace representatives of companies
broadly interested and experienced in the television field, also
representatives of national technical organizations desirous of
seeing television launched on a firm footing, as well as individ¬
ual experts. "
yj
xxxxxxxxxx
RADIO FREEDOM SHOWS IMPROVEMENT, SAYS UNION
Freedom on the radio has shown marked improvement during
the past year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union in
its report issued this week.
The organization found that censorship of motion picture
plays, books, and radio declined sharply last year.
XXXXXXXX
3
7/19/40
FIRST TELEVISION STATION FOR SAN FRANCISCO SPEEDED
Television experimentation tending to develop uniform
transmission standards of acceptable technical quality, plus equip¬
ment tests and training of technicians, in addition to experimental
programs which the public may enjoy, are assured by the National
Broadcasting Company, through its station W2XBS at New York, and
the Don Lee Broadcasting System, through W6XA0 at Los Angeles and
a proposed station to be located in San Francisco.
Besides confirming its previous tentative approval of
construction of the San Francisco station, the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission has authorized the other stations mentioned to
use the new television channel No. 1 (50,000-56,000 kilocycles).
This is in conformity with the Commission's announcement of June
18 encouraging the widespread distribution of experimental facil¬
ities to promote advancement of television.
Stations W2XBS and #6XA0 operated on the former tele¬
vision channel No. 1 (44,000-50,000 kilocycles) which, on May 22,
was removed from the television band. The Commission's approval
of the use of the new television channel No. 1 was conditioned
upon showing of acceptable programs of research and development.
National Broadcasting Company reported that its New
York station will continue to use the RMA standard but will in¬
crease the number of frame lines from 441 to 507. In collabora¬
tion with RCA, it will review the various types of transmission
standards under laboratory conditions and, if necessary, under¬
take full scale field testing. Chance in polarization of W2XBS
transmission would interfere with reception by receivers in the
area served, since antennas there are for horizontal polarized
signals. However, polarization studies will be conducted by RCA
subsidiaries. NBC hopes to make the necessary equipment changes
for utilizing the new channel during the Summer when audience in¬
terest is at a minimum. The work will require about two months.
Both Don Lee stations will experiment with television
transmission using 525 lines, 30 frames interlaced, or 441 lines,
30 frames interlaced, and possibly television signals of other
composition. These stations will make tests to determine the
effect of the different power supply systems on reception of tele¬
vision images, and propagation characteristics and signal-to-noise
ratios will be compared with vertical and horizontal oolarization
Studies will also be made of co-channel interference between the
Los Angeles and San Francisco stations.
Station W2XBS operates with 12 kilowatts visual and 15
kilowatts aural power, and W6XA0 with 100 watts visual power and
150 watts aural power. The proposed San Francisco station will
use 1 kilowatt aural and visual power.
XXXXXXXX
4 -
7/19/40
TIME EXTENSION GIVEN INTERNATIONAL STATIONS
Sox months extension of time to comply with the rule
that international broadcast stations must operate with power of
not less than 50 kilowatts has been granted by the Federal Com¬
munications Commission in the case of eight such stations which
have outstanding construction permits or have applications pending
to reach that minimum power.
These stations and their present authorized power are:
WPIT, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co., which is to move
to Hull, Mass. , 50 kilowatts; WRUL, World Wide Broadcasting Corp. ,
Scituate, Mass. , 50 kilowatts; WCBX, Columbia Broadcasting System,
near Wayne, N. J. , 10 kilowatts; KGEI, General Electric Co., San
Francisco, 20 kilowatts; WGEA, General Electric Co. , Schenectady,
N. Y. , 25 kilowatts; WNBI, National Broadcasting Co., Bound Brook,
N.J., 35 kilowatts; WRCA, National Broadcasting Co., same place,
35 kilowatts, and WRUW, World Wide Broadcasting Corp. , Scituate,
Mass. , 20 kilowatts.
Stations which are already complying with the minimum
power prescribed in Section 4.45 of the Rules Governing Interna¬
tional Broadcast Stations now extended to January 1, 1941, are
WLWO, Crosley Corp. , Mason, Ohio, 50 kilowatts, and WGEO, General
Electric Co. , So. Schenectady, 100 kilowatts.
The remaining international broadcast stations, which
have not yet moved to bring power to the required minimum, are
WCAB, operated by the WCAU Broadcasting Co. , Newton Square, Pa. ,
10 kilowatts; WDJM, Isle of Dreams Broadcasting Corp., Miami,
Fla. , 5 kilowatts, and WBCS, Westinghouse Electric and. Bilanufactur-
ing Co., Millis, Mass., 10 kilowatts.
Meanwhile, the Commission has acted in individual inter¬
national broadcast station cases as follows: Granted the applica¬
tion of World Wide Broadcasting Corp. for modification of license
of WRUL, at Scituate, Mass. , to operate unlimited time on 6040
kilocycles, and set for hearing application by the same company
for unlimited operation of WRUW, at Scituate, Mass. , on 6080 kilo ¬
cycles; granted application of the Crosley Corp. for unlimited
time operation by WLWO, at Mason, Ohio, on 6080 kilocycles; and
deleted station WDJM, at Miami, Fla. , which shared frequency with
WRUL and has now sold its equipment to that station.
XXXXXXXX
Dr. Frank Kingdon, nationally known social leader and
Executive Director of the Citizenship Educational Service, has
been added to the list of the speakers at the Eighteenth Annual
Convention of the National Association of Broadcasters in San
Francisco August 4-7.
XXXXXXXXX
- 5 -
7/19/40
BRITISH BIGGEST BUYER OF U. S. RADIOS
United States exports of radio receiving sets increased
from $655,679 in April of this year to $779,732 in May, according
to John H. Payne, Chief of the Electrical Division, Bureau of
Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
The United Kingdom was the chief contributor to this
advance with purchases of 14,218 sets valued at $120,513, an
improvement of more than 800 percent in number and 300 percent in
value over April purchases of 1,546 units valued at $30,407.
Sizable purchases were also credited to Brazil, Union of South
Africa, and Mexico, their respective shares being $85,817,
$69,172, and $63,739. Other less important, but still noteworthy
outlets were found in British India, Cuba, Venezuela, Philippine
Islands, Colombia, China and Chile.
Of the total foreign shipments of transmitting sets,
tubes and parts which aggregated $308,775, China accounted for
$108,105 while Switzerland ranked second with $35,221.
xxxxxxxx
SIX ATTORNEYS JOIN FCC LAW DEPARTMENT
The Federal Communications Commission this week announc¬
ed the following additions to its legal staff:
Lucien Hilmer, who was in charge of the New York office
of the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee in its railroad
investigation, to be special counsel.
David Lloyd, formerly Assistant Chief Counsel of the
Senate Civil Liberties Committee, to be Special Counsel in charge
of an investigation unit within the Law Department.
Oscar Schachter, from the Wages and Hours Division of
the Department of Labor, to be an associate attorney.
Leo Re snick, from the field legal staff of the Public
Works Administration, to be associate attorney.
Marcus Cohn, graduate of the University of Oklahoma,
University of Chicago Law School and Harvard Law School, to be
associate attorney.
Philip Elman, at present law clerk to Circuit Judge
Calvert Magruder of the First Circuit, to be assistant attorney.
XXXXXXXX
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FCC BEGINS HIRING RADIO OPERATORS
Because of the urgency of enlarging its field staff,
the Federal Communications Commission this week announced it would
begin hiring radio operators at once and permit them to take
Civil Service examinations while temporarily employed.
"In view of the emergency", a statement said, "the
Federal Communications Commission is prepared to accept applica¬
tions from licensed commercial operators and amateurs for appoint¬
ment as radio operators in the field service, with the under¬
standing that those selected will be given temporary employment
for ninety days and examined during that time by the Civil
Service Commission. The temporary employees who pass the Civil
Service examination, and are reached in the order of their stand¬
ing on the eligible list, will receive indefinite probationary
appointment on a temporary basis as the present emergency may
justify. "
Some of the appointees will be assigned to Alaska,
Hawaii, and Puerto Rico/
Persons holding radiotelegraph first class licenses will
be appointed to fill positions at $1800 per annum and those hold¬
ing radiotelegraph second class licenses at $1620 per annum.
Amateur licensees are eligibile providing they possess certain
qualifications and are between 21 and 55 years of age.
XXXXXXXX
DEMOCRATS PLACE RADIO ON PLANE WITH PRESS
Following the lead of the Republican convention, the
Democrats in Chicago this week adopted the following plant in its
platform with regard to radio:
"Radio has become an integral part of the democraticali
accepted doctrine of freedom of speech, press, assembly and
religion. We urge such legislative steps as may be required to
afford the same protection from censorship that is now afforded
the press under the Constitution of the United States.
"We must strengthen democracy by improving the welfare
of the people. We place human resources first among the assets
of a democratic society. "
XXXXXXXXXX
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For Release - Sunday, July 21, 1940
WESTINGHOUSE DEVICE STOPS WASTE OF RADIO WAVES
Station WBZ will stop wasting radio waves over the
Atlantic when its new 50,000-watt transmitter is opened in Hull,
across the harbor from Boston, on July 27, according to Ralph N.
Harmon, Chief Radio Broadcasting Engineer of the Westinghouse
Electric and Manufacturing Company.
With a modern "traffic cop" antenna, the station will
put its radio signals on a one-way avenue and concentrate their
strength in a westerly direction, Mr. Harmon explained.
He said that WBZ* s problem was to prevent the wasting
of waves that would normally be spread out over the Atlantic Ocean
The method adopted will reflect the ocean-bound waves back inland
and thus effectively double the station’s power for listeners in
southern New England. At present WBZ’ s transmitter is located at
Millis, Mass. , about 10 miles west of Boston.
"To accomplish this effect", stated Mr. Harmon, "two
transmitting antennas in the form of tall towers, have been erect¬
ed about 250 feet apart along an east and west line at Hull.
Radio signals will be sent out from both antennas, but the western
most one, called the director, will let them go about one four-
millionth (1/4, 000, 000) of a second later than its twin, the
reflector. "
As a result, Mr. Harmon went on to explain, waves from
the reflector will reach the director just in time to match, or
be "in phase" with the waves travelling westward. The effect will
be to send waves of double strength inland.
But in the other direction (toward the ocean) waves from
the director will reach the reflector out of phase (unmatched)
with the waves going oceanward from the reflector. "In other
words, the two sets of waves in this direction will be pushing in
opposite directions, since they are one quarter of a wavelength
apart, and their power will cancel out, leaving no wave at all. "
The effect of the reflecting antenna was explained as
the same as when a polished reflector is used behind a lamp to
direct all its light in a desired direction.
XXXXXXXXX
The Federal Communications Commission has denied a pet¬
ition of the Press-Union Publishing Co. , licensee of Station WBAB
at Atlantic City, N. J. , for rehearing of the Commission’s action
in issuing a construction permit to the Neptune Broadcasting Corp.
for a new station at that place to operate on 1420 kilocycles with
100 watts power night and 250 watts until local sunset. Station
WBAB operates on 1200 kilocycles with 250 watts power, unlimited
time .
xxxxxxxxxx
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BBC TAKES TO UNDERGROUND COVER
With Britain threatened with invations, the British
Broadcasting Company has announced that radio spokesmen have been
moved to bombproof shelters constructed deep in the earth '‘some¬
where in England", The nightly short wave talks have been emanat¬
ing from these concrete "catacombs" since July 7, according to a
BBC announcement.
All precautions have been taken in order to be able to
continue the short wave transmissions with some assurance of safety
to the broadcasters, it was stated. Anti-aircraft battery crews,
supported by men in sand bagged machinegun nests, scan the skies
close to the microphone locations.
These wartime studios are protected by thick layers of
concrete which it is expected will withstand the heaviest bombs.
They are designed to be soundproof. Overhead artillery crashes,
it is expected, will not disturb speakers or engineers beneath.
Discussing these "modern catacombs of broadcasting",
J. B. Priestley, in a recent talk in the "Britain Speaks" series,
said he and his fellow broadcasters in the BBC overseas service
had come to take these conditions almost for granted.
"There are different types of accommodation for speakers
according to the conditions prevailing at the time", the novelist
explained. "But even if cabinet ministers and members of parlia¬
ment have to put up with inconvenience, the voice of Britain will
still be heard. Sometimes an air raid warning sounds just as a
scheduled broadcast to America is about to begin. Studios are
chosen accordingly. "
Besides those given by Mr. Priestly, several talks each
week on short-waves for American listeners are presented by Vernon
Bartlett, who interprets the three minute summary of the latest
news which begins at 7:00 P.M. in the course of a 12 minute talk
immediately following.
The "Britain Speaks" series, is now aired at 8:30 P.M.
Ministers, including heads of departments, are heard from time to
time. Their talks will each last 15 minutes, and be followed by
an entertainment period featuring American stage and motion picture
stars now in Great Britain. This continues until the beginning of
the news summary and commentary.
The programs are heard on both 9.58 and 11.75 megacycles
(31 and 25 meters) from GSC and GSD.
XXXXXXXXX
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7/19/40
BROADCAST COVERAGE INCREASED THROUGH MUTUAL ARRANGEMENT
Another example of mutual cooperation by widely- separat¬
ed broadcasting stations to improve public service is reflected in
action this week by the Federal Communications Commission in grant¬
ing construction permits to WCHS, at Charleston, W. Va. ; WDBO at
Orland<?, Fla. , and WIBW at Topeka, Kans. , to increase night power
to 5 kilowatts. The three stations operate on 580 kilocycles.
By working out directional antenna systems they are able to greatly
increase their respective coverage with a minimum of interference
to one another.
WCHS, licensed to the Charleston Broadcasting Company,
has heretofore operated with 500 watts night and 5 kilowatts day,
while WDBO, Orlando Broadcasting Co. , Inc. , and WIBW, Topeka
Broadcasting Association, Inc. , have operated with 1 kilowatt
night and 5 kilowatts day.
xxxxxxxxx
TRADE NOTES
Radio's part in furthering favorable relations among the
Americas is being augmented with establishment by the Columbia
Broadcasting System of a short-wave studio in Inter-America House
at the New York World's Fair. Through arrangements completed be¬
tween CBS and the Program Committee of Inter- America House,
Columbia will have exclusive use of the studio to bring noteworthy
events at the Fair to listeners in South America over both WCBX,
New York, and the network's Philadelphia short-wave outlet, WCAB.
This extensive schedule is to be inaugurated Wednesday, July 24,
with a program commemorating "Simon Bolivar Day. "
The National Labor Relations Board has announced an
order requiring Indianapolis Power & Light Company, Indianapolis,
Indiana, owner of Station WFBM, to cease discouraging membership
in the CIO's United Utility Workers Organizing Committee and the
AFL' s Associated Broadcast Technicians' unit of the International
Brotherhood of E]e ctrical Workers, or in any other labor union.
The company was also required to cease encouraging membership or
in any manner supporting or assisting Indianapolis Power & Light
Employees' Protective Association.
XXXXXXXXX
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7/19/40
I. T. & T. GETS CAA RADIO EQUIPMENT ORDER
The International Telephone Development Company, sub¬
sidiary of the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation,
has received an order amounting to $537,547, from the Civil Aero¬
nautics Authority to manufacture and install airplane instrument
landing systems at the airports of six cities in the United
States: LaGuardia Field, N.Y. ; Municipal Airports at Chicago,
Cleveland and Kansas City; Mines Field, Los Angeles and Meacham
Field, Fort Worth.
With the exception of experimental installations, these
instrument landing systems will be the first ever contracted for
by the United States Government for utilization by the commercial
airways and will mark a decided advance in the application of
ultra-high frequency radio to aerial navigation. They will en¬
hance the safety of flying as well as relieve the congestion caus¬
ed at busy airports during times when large numbers of airplanes
must their turn for landing when weather conditions are unfavorable
The C.A.A., other government agencies and private com¬
panies have spent thousands of dollars and years of experimenta¬
tion and research to bring about this contribution to the safety
of flying. The International Telephone Development Company was
the contractor for the final stages of this development work and
designed, built and installed for the C.A.A. four instrument land¬
ing systems at Indianapolis, Indiana in 1938. With these systems
every conceivable test was made under all kinds of weather condi¬
tions, so that today, in the installations about to be built, all
"bugs" are believed to have been eliminated and certainty of
operation assured. This system was reported upon favorably by a
special committee of members of the National Academy of Sciences
which was requested by President Roosevelt to undertake the study
of the problem of standardizing instrument landing equipment for
airplanes.
The installation of these equipments will commence earl’
in 1941 and they will be placed in operation about the middle of
the year.
xxxxxxxxx
U.S. RADIOS NOT ADAPTED FOR TROPICS, SAYS COOGAN
Exports of radios to South America have grown smaller
because American manufacturers do not produce sets especially de¬
signed for tropical climates, W. A. Coogan, Foreign Sales Manager
of the Hygrade Sylvania Radio Tube Corporation, declared this week
following his return from a trip to South and Central America to
explore markets.
He said that, although South American countries were
finding themselves forced to make their own sets, the parts and
accessories business was favorable, according to the business
page of the New York Times.
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Mr. Cooga.n said he had observed unfavorable economic
conditions throughout South America, due to heavy farm surpluses
which were piling up as a result of the war. He pointed out that
in Argentina the loss of European markets had meant a loss in
exports of 60 percent of their corn crop, 56 percent of their
hides, 40 percent of their wool and 25 percent of their meat.
Argentina, he continued, has surpluses of 20,000,000 bushels of
wheat, 300,000,000 bushels of corn and 500,000,000 million
pounds of beef.
,!The unfortunate part of the situation1’, he went on,
"is the fact that the United States has surpluses of the same
commodities. "
xxxxxxxxxxx
RADIO MAKERS READY FOR F-M BROADCASTING
Radio manufacturers are of the opinion that the advent
of frequency modulation, the new system of radio transmission and
reception, will be taken in stride by the industry, according to
the Chicago Sunday Tribune . Many manufacturers are now in produ¬
ction on F-M receiving sets and others are preparing to start
production.
The position of Radio Corporation of America, leading
manufacturer in the field, is as yet not clearly defined, but
officials indicated that they would have F-M receivers on the
market this Fall if the public demand justifies such a step. On
the other hand, a majority of the independent manufacturers regard
the development as a. major advance in the industry and are pre¬
pared to exploit it fully.
General Electric Company, Stromberg- Carl son Telephone and
Manufacturing Company, and others have started F-M merchandising
campaigns to enable them to increase production and reduce prices.
Among those who plan to bring out F-M sets this Summer
and Fall are RCA, Zenith Radio Corporation, Stewart- Warner Cor¬
poration, and Farnsworth Television & Radio Corporation. Phi3.cc
Corporation has announced that its 1941 models will be construct¬
ed so that they can be converted to F-M.
E. F. McDonald, Jr., President of Zenith, one of the
leading experimenters with television, said that the company woul*'
have a combination F-M and standard receiving set on the market
November 1. The company was prepared to introduce a line last
Spring, he said, but withheld it until standards would be set.
"Frequency modulation has none of the economic hurdles
of television", he said. "For some time, F-M will be a supple¬
mentary system to A-M (amplitude modulation, the standard techni¬
que . ) "
The high costs encountered for television programs will
no u arise for F-M broa.dcasting, he explained* Staging, scenery,'
costuming, lighting, and more rehearsals to enable actors to
memorize their lines are imoortant factors increasing television
expenses.
XXXXXXXXX
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF JULY 23, 1940
Fly Defends New FCC Investigating Division . 2
Broadcasters Disturbed Over "Non-Political 11 Talks . 3
Overtime For Radio Inspectors Proposed In Bill . 4
Resumption Of Brown Hearing Expected This Week . 4
D. C. and N. Y. C. Television Outlets Speeded . . . 5
NAB To Consider FM And Television At Convention . 6
WCPO Petition Denied . 6
FM Applications Start Pouring Into FCC . . . 7
Broadcasters Aid In National Defense Drive . 7
Monopoly Brief Issue Still Undecided . 8
MBS Awaits Nazi Decision After "Blacklisting" . 8
FM Reception Far Better Than AM, Says G. E . 10
Police Held Turning To FM Radio Equipment . * . 10
CBS Makes Network Available To Army . 11
McDonald Proposes Gliders To Train Youth . 12
No. 1252
July 23, 1940
FLY DEFENDS NEW FCC INVESTIGATING DIVISION
Coincident with the appointment of David Lloyd, former
Chief Counsel of the Senate Civil Liberties Committee, as head of
a newly created investigating unit of the Federal Communications
Commission, Chairman James L. Fly explained the reasons for its
establishment at a press conference this week.
Chairman Fly said that it will consist of only a half
dozen investigators at the beginning but will be able to call upon
the Engineering and Accounting Divisions for assistance whenever
necessary. It will be under the direction of the Legal Division.
The FCC Chairman said he had considered the investigating
unit essential ever since he joined the Commission and had been
surprised that it had operated without one in the past.
The FCC must make sure of the credentials of applicants
for radio facilities in the future, he said, and not rely merely
on affidavits and sworn testimony.
The Communications Act, he said, clearly gives the FCC
authority to set up an investigating unit, and Congress has approv¬
ed the plan by appropriating the necessary funds.
Chairman FLy said he thinks the FCC also needs an expert
on labor problems as an aid to the Commission. The labor contro¬
versy that arose over the recent wire merger plan, he recalled,
illustrated the need for such an advisor.
Chairman Fly announced that he and Lieut. E. K. Jett,
FCC Chief Engineer, will go to New York July 31st to confer with
the National Television Systems Committee sponsored by the Radio
Manufacturers' Association.
Reiterating his approval of the efforts of the radio
industry to settle the television controversy, Mr. Fly said he
believed the industry is in a good frame of mind to reach an agree¬
ment.
From New York the FCC Chairman will go to the Pacific
Coast to attend the convention of the National Association of Broad¬
casters in San Francisco and to confer with leaders in television
development in that area. He said he expected to inspect the Don
Lee and De Forest television equipment.
Chairman Fly also said he welcomed the opportunity to
talk with the nation's broadcasters at this time in an informal
and face-to-face fashion.
XXXXXXXX
- 2 -
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7/23/40
BROADCASTERS DISTURBED OVER "NON-POLITICAL " TALKS
Somewhat puzzled over President Roosevelt’s announcement
that he will conduct no political campaign this year for reelection,
the broadcasting industry is awaiting the first "periodic talk" on
the state of the nation before deciding whether to label it com¬
mercial or sustaining.
Presidential addresses, such as the fireside chats, have
been carried as sustaining features up to this time.
The major networks have already spent or lost due to can¬
cellation of commercials more than $500,000 by covering the Republi¬
can and Democratic conventions. The G.O.P. Convention cost the
National Broadcasting Company, the Columbia Broadcasting System
and the Mutual Broadcasting System $365,000. The bill on the
Chicago meeting has not as yet been tabulated.
While this convention coverage is considered a public
service, the broadcasters anticipate getting much more than they
have lost by selling time for political addresses between now and
November.
In 1936, the Republicans spent about $850,000 and the
Democrats $600,000 on radio, and this year the Republicans are
expected to spend at least $800,000. The networks alone received
nearly $1,275,000 of this amount, according to Broadcasting Magazine ,
trade organ.
While the 1936 campaign presented the broadcasters with
some difficult problems with regard to the add-re sses of the Presi¬
dent, there were a number of speeches at rallies which were clearly
political and could be charged for according to the number of sta¬
tions in the hookup.
President Roosevelt, in his address of acceptance, which
was considered a sustaining feature, stated that he would be unable
to conduct a regular campaign because of pressing duties of state.
"I do expect, of course, during the coming months to make
my usual periodic reports to the country through the medium of
press conferences and radio talks", he said.
The President's "fireside chats" which, incidentally,
were given this name by Harry C. Butcher, Vice-President of CBS,
have been recognized by all broadcasters as sustaining programs.
The question that worries the broadcasters now is whether the
periodic talks" during the camoaign can be labeled sustaining or
commercial.
Wendell Willkie, because he holds no public office, will
have to pay for all his radio time.
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Four years ago the Federal Communications Commission
was confronted with a delicate problem when several stations on
one of the networks refused to carry one of Mr. Roosevelt* s
addresses, which the network had considered a sustaining program
and the stations insisted was a political talk. The stations were
upheld, however, in their refusals.
The self-imposed code of the National Association of
Broadcasters prohibits its members from charging for carrying
controversial talks, in which both sides must be treated equally,
but permits stations to charge for political talks.
"This exception is made”, the NAB points out, "because
at certain times the contending parties want to use and are entitl¬
ed to use more time than broadcasters could possibly afford to give
away. "
xxxxxxxxx
OVERTIME FOR RADIO INSPECTORS PROPOSED IN BILL
An amendment to Section 4(f) of the Communications Act to
provide for extra compensation for overtime of inspectors in charge
and radio inspectors of the Field Division of the Engineering Divi¬
sion of the Federal Communications Commission has been introduced
by Chairman Bland, of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and
Fishe ries.
The measure authorizes the FCC to fix a reasonable rate
of pay for overtime services, which would cover services after
5 P.M. and before 8 A.M. daily or on Sundays or holidays.
xxxxxxxx
RESUMPTION OF BROWN HEARING EXPECTED THIS WEEK
A fourth hearing on the renomination of Commissioner
Thad H. Brown was expected to be scheduled this week by the Senate
Interstate Commerce Committee.
Attaches of the Committee said that a time will be set as
soon as Senator Tobey ( R. ) , of New Hampshire, makes the request.
XXXXXXXXX
- 4 -
7/23/40
D.C. AND N.Y.C. TELEVISION OUTLETS SPEEDED
New television stations for the National Capital and New
York City were speeded by action of the Federal Communications Com¬
mission in confirming previous tentative approval of applications
by the Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc., for such outlets. The
Commission also authorized DuMont and Columbia Broadcasting System
to start television broadcasts under the new promotional rules
from their Passaic and New York stations respectively.
DuMont’s new Washington station will operate on new tele¬
vision channel No. 1 (50,000-56,000 kilocycles) with 1 kilowatt
power for aural and visual transmission, and its New York station
will use television channel No. 4 (78,000-84,000 kilocycles) with
like power.
DuMont’s present television station W2XVT, at Passaic,
N.J. , is enabled to increase power to 5 kilowatts, aural and visual,
and transmit on channel No. 4. Columbia Broadcasting System sta¬
tion W2XAB, at New York, can use channel No. 2 (60,000-66,000 kilo¬
cycles), 7-J kilowatts power, aural and visual.
These new authorizations closely follow Commission action
last week in speeding construction of San Francisco's first tele¬
vision station, to be operated by Don Lee Broadcasting System, and,
at the same time, giving the "go" signal for Don Lee station W6XA0,
at Los Angeles, and National Broadcasting Co. station W2XBS, New
York, to use new television channel No. 1 (50,000-56,000 kilocycles),
which the proposed San Francisco station will likewise employ.
Opening additional television facilities throughout the
country is made possible by the Commission’s new rules encouraging
experimental operation to promote the art. Approvals in all cases
are contingent upon programs to foster research and development.
The DuMont Washington and New York stations, for example,
will inquire into the advantages of various types of film projectors,
experiment with mobile pick-up utilizing wire links and radio links,
and will seek public cooperation on various types of program mater¬
ial. Coaxial cable will be used in transmitting programs between
Washington and New York, and the Washington station will test the
practicability of providing satisfactory service to Washington and
Baltimore from a single transmitter.
The program of research for DuMont's Passaic station
embraces tests of various antenna systems utilizing both vertical
and horizontal radiators, experiments with systems other than RMA
and DuMont, and investigating the effects of phase-shifts, noise,
field patterns, etc. ; test of transmitter equipment, including
power tubes; ultimate experiments in the possible use of FM (fre¬
quency modulation) for television broadcasting on the ultra-high
frequencies.
- 5 -
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7/23/40
In seeking to develop uniform transmission standards of
acceptable technical quality, CBS station W2XAB proposes to make
comparable investigation of all synchronizing pulses for which
generating equipment is available, make comparative study of dif¬
ferent combinations of lines and frames, investigate the effect on
allocations of using different polarizations in certain adjacent
areas, and work with the general public in determining reaction to
various changes in program technique.
XXXXXXXX
NAB TO CONSIDER FM AND TELEVISION AT CONVENTION
Two developments which are likely to affect the status
of standard broadcasting will be given serious attention at the
forthcoming convention of the National Association of Broadcasters
at San Francisco, August 5-8. They are frequency modulation and
television.
A demonstration of FM has been arranged by John Shepard, III
President of FU Broadcasters, Inc. , and Paul de Mars, one of the
engineers sponsoring the new form of radio transmission, will talk
on "Practical FM Broadcasting. "
Ted Smith, Manager of Television Transmission Sales for
the Radio Corporation of America, will talk on "Apparatus Require¬
ments for Television Stations", while Harry R. Lubcke, Director of
Television for the Don Lee Broadcasting System, will speak on
"Television Station Operation and Telecast Pickups".
X X X X X X X
WCPO PETITION DENIED
The Federal Communications Commission has denied the
petition of Scripps-Howard Radio, Inc. , licensee of Station WCPO
at Cincinnati, for hearing or rehearing on the grant to WCOL, Inc. ,
on June 3, of a license authorizing WCOL, at Columbus, to operate
on 1200 kilocycles with 250 watts power, unlimited time, which
facilities are also permitted WCPO. On March 29, the Commission
denied a similar petition of Scripps-Howard Radio, Inc. , in con¬
nection with the grant of WC0Lfs construction permit October 10
of last year.
XXXXXXXX
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7/23/40
FM APPLICATIONS START POURING- INTO FCC
With the initial problem of an intricate application
blank apparently solved, applications for frequency modulation
licenses are pouring into the Federal Communications Commission.
Chairman James L. Fly explained that there was no dis¬
position on the part of the Commission to slow up the applications
but that the applications had been made difficult deliberately.
The FCC, he said, mnted all the information possible from the
applicants because of the newness of the industry.
Meanwhile the FCC sent out a supplemental release defin¬
ing requirements for contour maps in establishing service areas
for high frequency broadcast stations.
xxxxxxxxxx
BROADCASTERS AID IN NATIONAL DEFENSE DRIVE
Under the sponsorship of the National Broadcasters*
Association, the nation's broadcasters are offering their assist¬
ance in rounding up 100,000 skilled civilian workers for the War
and Navy Departments and the Civil Aeronautics Authority.
Neville Miller, President of the NAB, in a letter to all
members, pledged the industry to help locate these workers by
broadcasting announcements as to definite jobs that are open in
the section of the country from which the broadcasts will be made.
"The National Defense needs of the United States require
the immediate employment of 100,000 skilled civilian workers in
the War and Navy Departments", Mr. Miller wote, "the Civil Aero¬
nautics Authority and in several other departments.
"To locate these men speedily is an urgent and patriotic
duty that radio can perform best. It is a duty that the National
Association of Broadcasters, on behalf of all broadcasting stations,
has accepted.
"Radio can do the job with the vigorous help of every
individual broadcaster. The task is not easy; for the highways
and byways must be combed for recruits. It is believed that a
large number of qualified men will be found working in other
capacities.
"These men must be reached and urged to return to their
former trades else preparedness plans may bog down .
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"Every week NAB will confer with the United States Civil
Service Commission about jobs throughout the country. It is ex¬
pected that needs at certain points will change frequently. As
they change, superseding announcements will be sent.
"Therefore, in the interest of efficiency, in this hour
of emergency, we shall operate on the assumption that stations will
continue to broadcast an announcement until it is killed or modi¬
fied to meet the changing conditions. "
xxxxxxxxxx
MONOPOLY BRIEF ISSUE STILL UNDECIDED
The Federal Communications Commission has not yet decided
whether it will accept briefs from the networks in response to
charges carried in the monopoly report.
The matter was scheduled to have been discussed at the
meeting last Friday, but officials said it was not reached because
of the vast amount of routine business. It is due to come at a
meeting on Wednesday, but an FCC spokesman said there may not be a
quorum present.
The Columbia Broadcasting System has asked permission to
file a brief, and the Mutual Broadcasting System has submitted pro¬
posals to remedy some of the evils of network broadcasting as
alleged in the monopoly report.
xxxxxxxx
MBS AWAITS NAZI DECISION AFTER "BLACKLISTING"
The Mutual Broadcasting System was barred from picking up
broadcasts from Berlin or Nazi occupied territory this week at
least temporarily after bee in "blacklisted" because of the action
of 31 Pacific Coast stations of the Mutual- Don Lee Network last
Friday in cutting off Hitler’s address to the Reichstag.
Dr. Otto Dietrich, personal press chief of the German
Chancellor, temporarily barred MBS from further broadcasts out of
Nazi territory.
Dr. Dietrich notified Siegrid Schultz, Mutual representa¬
tive in Berlin, that he wanted a complete report and explanation of
the incident and pending receipt of the report and its approval as
satisfactory he was suspending all Mutual broadcasts from Germany
and German-controlled areas in Europe, according to a cablegram
received by Arthur Whiteside, Mutual Production Manager, in New
York.
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Mr. Whiteside cabled back that, to the best of his know¬
ledge, although he had no way of checking, the Hitler speech was
carried by the rest of the 140 stations of the network and that
it wa s the prerogative of each station or chain in the network to
accept or reject all or any part of any network program, since the
individual station and not the network controlle*d its broadcast.
Executives of the system believed it was the first time
that a major radio network had had its broadcasting facilities
suspended by a totalitarian country as a counter-move to criticism
of that country originating in the United States, according to the
New York Times. In radio circles the move was looked upon as an
effort by the censors in Berlin to control expressions of opinion
by United States citizens over their own radio facilities to aud¬
iences within the United States.
The network supplied the Hitler speech in full on a pro¬
gram taking ninety-five minutes. The thirty-one stations cut it
off after ten minutes, and Station KHJ in Los Angeles broadcast a
statement in explanation that its management did not consider the
speech "in the public interest" or "in harmony with the attitude of
this government. " It also expressed its opinion that Herr Hitler
"should not be permitted to use our American facilities to justify
his crimes against civilization itself. "
On several instances recently Balkan countries coming
within the Nazi orbit have been required to carry Herr Hitler’s
speeches and other broadcasts in the interest of German foreign
policy.
xxxxxxxx
Work on WOR’ s Frequency Modulation transmitter, W2X0R,
at 444 Madison Avenue, New York City, is expected to be completed
and the set-up ready for formal dedication by the first week in
August, according to J. R. Poppele, Chief Engineer for the station.
The Federal Communications Commission has granted the
application of Harold Thomas for a construction permit to erect a
new station at Bridgeport, Conn., to operate on the frequency 1420
kilocycles, with power of 250 watts, unlimited time, upon condition
that permittee shall file an application for modification of con¬
struction permit specifying exact transmitter location within two
months after the effective date of the order.
Dr. Henry B. Kranz, of Columbia's short-wave listening
station, who daily tunes in on 25 foreign stations which broadcast
in five different languages, starts a three-week lecture tour of
Summer camps July 28. Dr. Kranz, author, former Viennese journal¬
ist and dramatic critic, contributor to many magazines of public
opinion, claims he is the first lecturer to choose "Inside Radio
War Propaganda" as a subject. His itinerary includes Pine Brook
Lodge, Connecticut, week of July 28; Camp Copake, New York, week
of Aug. 4, and Camp Tamiment, Pa. , week of Aug. 11.
XXXXXXXXXX
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FM RECEPTION FAR BETTER THAN AM, SAYS G.E.
The area of good broadcast reception area with frequency
modulated radio is 33 times greater than with amplitude, or present
type, broadcasting, according to a report on tests and calculations
announced by General Electric engineers.
These calculations were made by I. R. Weir, G-E radio
engineer, using two amplitude and two frequency modulated trans¬
mitters operating on the same wave length and placed on level
ground 15 miles apart. First the two amplitude transmitters each
operating on 1 kilowatt were calculated to operate simultaneously .
The area served without interference about either transmitter was
limited to a radius of 1-1/2 miles. Next the two frequency trans¬
mitters on the same 1 kilowatt of power were calculated. The area
covered without interference was 33 times greater.
In the second condition the power was increased to 10
kilowatts on one transmitter and remained at 1 kilowatt on the
other. With amplitude, the clear reception area of the 1 kilo¬
watt station was reduced by interference from the stronger station
to one- third its size, and the area of the 10-kilowatt station in¬
creased to about 3 times. When a switch was made to frequency
modulation, under the same conditions, the clear area for the
1-kilowatt station was reduced one- fourth, whereas with the 10-
kilowatt station the area was increased about 3 times.
The third and final calculation was made with the power
of the transmitter at one point increased to 100 kilowatts with the
other transmitter remaining at 1 kilowatt. With amplitude modula¬
tion, the clear area of the 1-kilowatt station was reduced to one-
eighth area, and the 100-kilowatt station area was increase d ap¬
proximately 3 times. With frequency modulation, the area of the
1-kilowatt station was reduced to about one-tenth its size and the
area of the 100-kilowatt station increased about 4-1/2 times.
These calculations, according to Mr. Weir, give added
proof that frequency modulation permits more stations to operate on
the same channel. The same frequency can be assigned to a large
number of stations which do not have to be separated by very great
distances, and at the same time the stations can cover a greater
area with good reception than is possible by amplitude modulation.
XXXXXXXX
POLICE HELD TURNING TO FM RADIO EQUIPMENT
Police Departments are turning to FM as a better means of
coordinating law enforcement work, according to FM Broadcasters, Inc.
FM’s freedom from reception noises, particularly ignition
and electrical devices encountered in heavily-populated districts
and along highways, makes it highly adaptable for use in patrol
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7/23/40
cars for two-way communication, the organization insists. In addi¬
tion, so-called Mdead spots” and reception fade-outs are almost
non-existent with FM. Its low level of reception noise gives a
much greater area of service.
The State Police of Connecticut are currently installing
the first State-wide FM system in the country. Under the guidance
of Professor D. E. Noble of the University of Connecticut, who is
Consulting Engineer for the Connecticut State Police, the new set¬
up has been designed and is now being installed. It will comprise
10 fixed location FM transmitters, 250 watts each, at various
headquarters stations, and a total of 225 two-way mobile units in
patrol cars.
Two fixed transmitters are already in operation and two
more will be established by August 1. The 10 stations of the com¬
pleted system, together with 225 mobile units, will be operating
by September 1.
The Chicago Police Department has issued specifications
for equipping 200 squad cars with two-way FM installations and
establishing 16 fixed location stations. The bids subsequently
received were opened in May, but as yet no award of the contract
has been made.
Meanwhile other police organizations throughout the
nation are contemplating a switch to FM as a greater aid in their
work of law enforcement. In addition to its other advantages, FM
will eliminate the frequency inter-State and inter-city interfer¬
ence which occurs when a number of police departments all operate
their transmitters on the same channel. Distant signals cannot
disturb FM reception in its primary area, due to the discriminat¬
ing properties of FM receivers.
xxxxxxxxxx
CBS MAKES NETWORK AVAILABLE TO ARMY
While the Government builds the greatest peacetime Army
in United States history, the Columbia Broadcasting System has made
its full network facilities available in a new program series to
help authorities conducting the recruiting campaign.
The Army itself, through officers, enlisted men and the
families of soldiers will have an opportunity to tell the human
interest story of the nation* s defenders in a series of broadcasts
starting Saturday, July 27 (WABC-CBS, 1:30 to 2:00 P.M. , EDST).
There will be talks with recruits, mess sergeants, army technicians,
infantrymen, artillerymen, and fliers.
High- spotting the program from a musical viewpoint will
be the famous United States Military Academy band, broadcasting
directly from West Point.
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7/2 / 40
MC DONALD PROPOSES GLIDERS TO TRAIN YOUTH
A simple and inexpensive scheme to train aviators for
National Defense has been evolved by Eugene F. McDonald, Jr.,
President of Zenith Radio Corporation, who is a gliding enthusiast.
The plan involves mass production of gliders and financial assist¬
ance from the Federal Government to young men wishing to learn to
fly them, according to the Chicago Tribune .
"Training pilots is one of the immediate problems of
defense", Commander McDonald said. "It will do little good to
build 1,000 planes a week if we do not have pilots to fly them.
Until now the use of gliders for training purposes has been ovei>-
looked here despite the remarkable success Germany had with them",
he asserted.
Germany* s success is the chief recommendation for adoption
of the plan here, he pointed out. Treaty restrictions forced the
Nazis to learn to fly in motorless ships, he explained, and as a
result the world's best gliders and sailplanes were developed there.
All records for distance, altitude, and duration of flight were
shattered by the Germans.
The most important result, however, is described in the
statement of Ernst Udet, German flying ace, quoted by Mr. McDonald:
"Germany's greatest flayers came from the 250,000 to 300,000
youths who were made air conscious and trained in gliders. ”
Ma j . A! Williams, an American aviation authority, also
endorses glider training, Commander McDonald asserted. He said
that Major Williams had told him a glider trained pilot knows how
to conserve energy and use air currents in a manner that most motor
trained pilots never learn.
There are fewer than 1,000 gliders and sailplanes in the
United States, Mr. McDonald said, and most of the better ones are
imported from Germany. Prices range upward from $700. Negotiations
for mass production have already been opened with large manufactur¬
ers, Mr. McDonald said, and he has begun a campaign to interest the
Federal Government in providing funds for glider training.
The principal advantages of gliders as trainers, listed
by Commander McDonald, include low expense, safety, speed, and
availability. He said that he had learned to fly a glider in less
than an hour. He estimated that 10 hours' instruction would be
enough to train a glider pilot to use a motor plane.
XXXXXXXX
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C. oA,
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INDEX TO ISSUE OF JULY 26, 1940
Broadcast Time Sales Increased 10 Percent In 1939 . 2
S~W Broadcasters Increase Budget $2,000,000 . .....3
Radio Excise Taxes Up 25$ For Fiscal Year . 5
Special Emergency Radio Service Clarified By FCC . . . 6
New Rules Adopted On Educational Radio Stations . ...7
Knowlson Names New Committees Of RMA . ..........8
FTC Order Hits Radio Set Attachment . . . . . 8
Three Additional Television Stations Authorized. . . 9
Wisner, Former FCC press Chief, Dies . 10
Power Company Uses Radio To Protect Plants . 10
Trade Notes . 11
Miniature Networks Used To Demonstrate FM . 12
Coughlin Plans To Resume Radio Talks In October . . . 12
No. 1253
BROADCAST TIME SALES INCREASED 10 PER CENT IN 1939
Broadcast time sales for the calendar year 1939 amounted
to $129, 468, 022, which was an increase of 10.3 percent over the
$117,379,459 reported for 1938, according to figures compiled by
the Accounting, Statistical, and Tariff Department of the Federal
Communications Commission and announced this week.
These figures are based on reports by the three major
networks - Columbia Broadcasting System, Mutual Broadcasting System,
and National Broadcasting Company - together with 705 other sta¬
tions, including affiliated stations whose time sales were being
conducted by Columbia and National at the end of the year.
The total broadcast expenses of the industry for 1939 were
$99,789,920, compared with $92,503,594 for the previous year, an
increase of 7.9 percent. While the networks and their affiliated
23 stations had 54.1 percent of the total business last year, their
proportion of the net business (after deduction of commission pay¬
ments and amounts due to independent stations for network broad¬
casting) was 38.2 percent, and the proportion of the 682 other sta¬
tions was 61.8 percent. Time sales last year involved commission
payments amounting to $17,405,414 as compared with $16,487,200 the
year previous.
The broadcast-service income (revenue less expenses) of
the three major networks was $5,631,228, or 23.9 percent of the
total. That of their 23 stations was $5,428,924 or 23 percent of
the total, and that of the 682 other stations was $12,531,792, or
53.1 percent of the total.
Aside from sales for the use of Canadian and other extra¬
territorial stations in major network broadcasts, the sales of
major network time were $61,310,571, and accounted for 47.4 percent
of the total time sales in the United States for 1939. Other classes
of time sales and their comparison with the same classes for 1938
are included in the following:
1939 _ _ 1938 _
Ratio to Ratio to
Class of Time
Major network time (U. S. )
National non-network time
Local time
Regional network time
total total
Amount Amount %
$ 61,310,571
30,472,053
36,815,770
869,628
47.4
$55,114,258
47.0
23.5
28,109,185
23. 9
28.4
33,402,801
28.5
0.7
753,215
0.6
$129,468,022
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Total
100. 0$117, 379, 459 100.0
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7/26/40
The major networks, in addition to their domestic business shown
above, had total sales of $1,311,118 for network broadcasts over
Canadian and other extra-territorial stations.
While the foregoing paragraph compares each major class
of sales in 1939 with that for 1938, the actual changes within the
classes were different, major network total time sales being up
$6,196,313, or 11.2 percent; national non-network up $2,362,868,
or 8.4 percent; and local up $3,412,969, or 10.2 percent. Receipts
from regional networks by stations were about the same for both
years.
The 1939 figures include reports from 186 stations which
each had revenue for the year in amount less than $25,000, compared
with 175 for the year 1938. The 186 stations had total revenue of
$2,224,807, compared with $2,520,026 for the 175 in 1938.
The figures released do not include 11 independent sta¬
tions, reports of which require further correspondence. However,
the aggregate amount of revenue involved in these cases is less
than $200,000, which is entirely non-network and consists mostly
of local business. Nor do the figures cover 38 non-commercial sta¬
tions, 11 extra-territorial stations, or 49 stations under con¬
struction or otherwise not in operation at the close of the year.
The operating expenses of the nine stations operated by
Columbia and National, and designated by them as key stations,
are not susceptible of direct allocation to network operations on
the one hand or to station operations on the other. Therefore,
the division of the expenses as reported by the networks between
network operations and key station operations reflect arbitrary
determinations in some instances.
All figures included in the tabulations are compiled from
responses made for networks and stations in compliance with
Section 1.361 of the Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Commis¬
sion, except in the case of Mutual, which filed a report as informa¬
tion to the Commission in connection with the industry survey.
XXXXXXXX
S-W BROADCASTERS INCREASE BUDGET $2,000,000
Short wave broadcasters in the United States have commit-
ed themselves to an additional expenditure of $2,000,000 for new
and more powerful transmission equipment, Neville Miller, President
of the National Association of Broadcasters, this week advised the
State Department in a conference with Thomas Burke, Chief of the
Division of International Communications at the State Department,
relative to the problem of world wide broadcasting, with particular
reference to South American coverage.
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Representatives of the short wave broadcasters have had
conferences with officials of the Federal Communications Commission
concerning increased power and applications are now pending for
construction permits which it is expected will be granted in the
near future.
It was revealed that operating costs for the new and
more powerful transmitters would be in excess of one million
dollars annually.
While the new equipment will insure wider coverage and
bring about better reception in South America, the popularity of
broadcasts from the United States is already high. Nearly 10,000
letters a month are written by South American listeners to American
short wave broadcasters, it was declared. News broadcasts are
highest in popularity. Figures compiled by the NAB show that
American short wave stations are broadcasting 13 hours and 19
minutes of news to Latin and South America every day. The broad¬
casts are given chiefly in Spanish, Portuguese and English, though
there are two fifteen-minute periods given in G-erman, French and
Italian. These are the regularly scheduled periods and do not
include special events such as speeches or statements by the Presi¬
dent, Secretary of State and other officials of government. When
the President speaks, for example, his speech is broadcast in
English, later translated into Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian,
Polish and German, and broadcast in these languages.
Other programs which have attracted a wide following of
listeners in South America include travelogues, lessons in English,
talks on new scientific discoveries and developments, stamp collect¬
ing programs, and aviation. The South American woman apparently
is as much interested in fashion notes and Hollywood gossip as her
North American sister, the program analysis indicated. In addition
to specially built programs for the Latin American audience, the
cream of network programs are also broadcast, especially important
symphonies and vocalists, as a reflection of North American culture.
Occasionally exchange programs have been done in the past year
where, for example, Brazil furnished a series of programs which
were heard over an American network, and the network in turn broad¬
cast programs which were heard over the Brazilian network.
Letters from listeners indicate that Latin Americans
prefer news broadcasts from the United States. The same policies
governing the broadcasts of news on standard stations in the United
States also govern the broadcasting of news by short wave. On
regularly scheduled periods, a complete coverage of domestic and
world wide events is given. News is presented as it happens. It
is not slanted, withheld or distorted for propaganda purposes. As
a result, South American listeners have learned to place dependence
on news broadcast by United States short wave stations, it was
declared.
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The total amount of broadcasting done by all American
short-wave stations, including news broadcasts, for South American
listeners, is 449 hours per week.
Those attending the conference with Mr. Burke, in addi¬
tion to Mr. Miller, were Harry C. Butcher, E. K. Cohan, Miss
Elizabeth Ann Tucker of the Columbia Broadcasting System; Robert L.
Gibson, General Electric Company; Frank Mason, Guy C. Hickok,
Frank M. Russell of the National Broadcasting Company; Oswald F.
Schuette, Radio Corporation of America; J. G. Leitch, Radio Station
WCAB; Kenneth W. Stoman, Radio Station WCAU, Philadelphia, Pennsyl¬
vania; J. B. Rock, Walter Evans, Westinghouse Electric & Manu¬
facturing Company; R. J. Rockwell, W. C. Koplovitz, Radio Station
WLW, Cincinnati, Ohio; Walter Lemmon, World Wide Broadcasting Cor¬
poration; Ed Kirby, Paul Peter, National Association of Broad¬
casters.
XXXXXXXXX
RADIO EXCISE TAXES UP 25$ FOR FISCAL YEAR
Total radio excise tax collections for the fiscal year
ending June 30 were $6,079,914.50, an increase of 25.8 percent
over the radio taxes collected for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1939, of $4,834,366.33, it was disclosed this week.
Radio tax collections last June, largely covering
industry operations for the previous month of May, total $617,177.45
according to the June report of the U. S. Bureau of Internal Revenue
The June collections were 138.8 percent larger than the
radio taxes collected in June, 1939, totaling $258,438.23. June
tax collections on mechanical refrigerators were $1,284,646.70
compared with $1,074,521.42 in June, 1939.
Radio collections during the six months' period from
January through June this year were 39.4 percent larger than in the
similar six months of 1939. The radio tax collections during the
six months' period from July to December, 1939, were 14.8 percent
larger than those of the July- December period of 1938.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Although the Federal Communications Commission cannot,
as a rule, interfere in local interference problems, so many resi¬
dents of Dennison, Ohio, complained about serious interference to
local radio reception that the Commission has asked the Ohio Power
Co. to cooperate in remedying the local situation.
X XXXXXXXXX
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SPECIAL EMERGENCY RADIO SERVICE CLARIFIED BY FCC
To obviate misunderstanding regarding the scope of special
emergency radio service and to restrict such service to real emer¬
gencies, the Federal Communications Commission has clarified the
language of its applying rule to prevent employment of this service
for routine business or common carrier for hire, and added a pro¬
vision which will permit emergency use of such facilities in time
of disaster or other emergencies by members of the public.
Accordingly, it changed Section 10.231 of the Rules and
Regulations to read:
(a) Special emergency stations may be used only during an
emergency jeopardizing life, public safety, or import¬
ant property.
(1) for essential communications arising from the
emergency.
(2) for emergency transmission from one point to
another between which normal communication facil¬
ities do not exist, are not usable, or are
temporarily disrupted or inadequate.
(b) The use of special emergency stations for the handling
of routine or non-emergency communications is strictly
prohibited.
(c) Within the scope of service given in subparagraph (a),
the licensee of a special emergency station shall make
the communication facilities of such station available
to any member of the public.
(d) Special emergency stations, except those of communica¬
tions common carriers utilized temporarily to restore
normal public communication service disrupted by an
emergency, shall not operate as common carriers of com¬
munications for hire. However, licensees of such sta¬
tions may accept contributions, to capital and operating
expenses from others who, under the Commission's rules,
would be eligible to stations of their own, for the
cooperative use of the stations on a cost-sharing
basis; Provided, that contracts for such cooperative
use are submitted to the Commission 30 days prior to
the effective date thereof and that said contracts are
not disapproved by the Commission.
At the same time the Commission granted 11 applications
by four associated companies of the American Telephone and Telegraph
Company for special emergency stations. Five of these are con¬
struction permits for the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania
to set up this type of station at Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and a
site near Aliquippe, Pa. , to be determined later, as well as
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7/26/40
12 portable-mobile units. Two other construction permits have to
do with the Michigan Bell Telephone Company, for a station at
Detroit plus 6 portable-mobile units. Two other permits are for
a Washington, D. C. , station with two portable-mobile units for
the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company. The other two author¬
izations cover licenses for two stations at New York and two port¬
able-mobile units of the New York Telephone Company.
Special emergency stations, under one terminology or
another, have been licensed by this Government since before the
establishment of the Federal Radio Commission. Several stations
were, in fact, operated by the Pennsylvania Power & Light Company
before 1927. As recounted in our general information release of
January 27th last, these emergency radio stations have proved
their value in time of glood, earthquake, and hurricane, when wire
circuits have failed. Because frequencies for this purpose are
scarce, public utilities are encouraged to make joint use of such
facilities.
Besides communication companies, emergency stations are
also operated by transportation companies, gas and oil distribution
companies, water distribution companies, power distribution com¬
panies, the American Red Cross, the American Legion, and remote
establishments which cannot be reached by other means of communica¬
tion.
xxxxxxxxx
NEW RULES ADOPTED ON EDUCATIONAL RADIO STATIONS
The Federal Communications Commission this week repealed
Section 4.137 of the rules governing non- commercial educational
broadcast stations and adopted the following substitute:
"Section 4.137 Frequencle s. (a) The following frequencies
are allotted for assignment to non- commercial educational
broadcast stations
Kilocycles
42,100
42,300
42,500
42,700
42, 900
(b) Stations serving the same area will not be
assigned adjacent frequencies.
(c) Frequency modulation shall be employed exclus¬
ively unless it is shown that there is a special need
for the use of amplitude modulation.
( d) Only one frequency will be assigned to a station. 11
The effective date of the Rules and Regulations Sec. 3.32(b),
which prohibits broadcasting of commercial programs on experimental
authorizations, was further extended from August 1 to October 1,
1940, by the Federal Communications Commission.
XXXXXXXXX X
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7/26/40
KN0WLS0N NAMES NEW COMMITTEES OF RMA
J. S. Knowlson, newly-elected President of the Radio Manu¬
facturers1 Association, this week announced the appointment of new
committees.
Among these was a new Industry Promotion Committee to
which H. C. Bonfig, of Camden, N. J., was appointed Chairman, which
will handle the national cooperative campaign of RMA and the Na¬
tional Association of Broadcasters, and also other sales promotion
and merchandising problems. The committee includes Directors
Abrams, Baker, Buckley, Paul V. Galvin of Chicago, Chairman of the
RMA Set Division, and Director E. A. Nicholas of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
This Committee also will handle merchandising affairs involved in
the radio trade practice rules promulgated by the Federal Trade
Commission just a year ago, on July 22, 1939, succeeding the former
Fair Trade Practice Committee of the Association.
To make the RMA organization more effective, another new
Committee, on Federal Wage-Hour Administration matters, with Octave
Blake of South Plainfield, N. J. , as Chairman, was appointed. This
Committee will have charge of affairs in connection with the Walsh-
Healey Act and also under the Wage-Hour Administration of the
Department of Labor.
The list of Committees and Chairmen follows:
Standing Committees: Credit Committee - J. J. Kahn,
Chairman; Engineering Department - W. R. G. Baker, Director;
Export Committee - W. A. Coogan, Chairman; Legislative Committee -
A. H. Gardner, Chairman; Membership Committee - E. Alschuler, Chair¬
man, Traffic Committee - 0. J. Davies, Chairman.
Special Committees: Industry Promotion Committee - H. C.
Bonfig, Chairman; Reorganization Committee - Leslie F. Muter, Chair¬
man; Wage-Hour Administration Committee - Octave Blake, Chairman;
Service Section - J. K. Rose, Chairman.
XXXXXXXXXX
FTC ORDER HITS RADIO SET ATTACHMENT
The Perfect Manufacturing Company, trading as R. E.
Engineers, Madison Road, Cincinnati, has been ordered by the Federal
Trade Commission to discontinue the dissemination of misleading
representations in the sale of an electrical and mechanical device
for attachment to radio receiving sets.
Under the order, the respondent is directed to cease
representing that its device, ’’Add-A-Tube , ” when attached to a
radio receiving set, gives to it the effect of an additional tube;
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adds life to the tubes; improves reception from foreign and domestic
stations; brings the set up to date, or gives to such set addi¬
tional sharpness, tone and selectivity.
The order further forbids use by the respondent of the
term "Add- A- Tube, " or any similar terra, when the device does not
perform the functions of an additional tube in a radio receiving
set.
XXXXXXXX
THREE ADDITIONAL TELEVISION STATIONS AUTHORIZED
Three additional television grants under its promotional
experimental rules were announced by the Federal Communications
Commission this week. They cover construction permit for a new
Philadelphia television station, to be operated by WCAU Broadcasting
Co. on television channel No. 5 (84,000-90,000 kilocycles) with
1 kilowatt aural and visual power; construction permit to Purdue
University to operate its television station W9XG-, at West Lafayette,
Ind. , on channel No. 3 (66,000-72,000 kilocycles) with 750 watts
aural and visual power; and modification of license of the State
University of Iowa station W9XUI, at lows- City, to use channels Nos.
1 and 12 (50,000-56,000 and 210,000-216,000 kilocycles) with 100
watts visual only.
WCAU proposes to experiment with 441 to 729 lines, and 15
to 30 frames; to compare vertical and horizontal polarization as to
signal noise ratio, effect of tall buildings, hills, and obstruc¬
tions, interference from diathermy and ignition systems, and signal
strength; to investigate pre-emphasis in the transmitter and de¬
emphasis in the receiver; and compare FM (frequency modulation)
and AM (amplitude modulation) as the sound component of its pro¬
posed station.
Purdue University contemplates experimenting with trans¬
mission standards, development of new types of pick-up tubes or
iconoscopes, research into the design and construction of side-band
filters, development of the transmission line or impedence modula¬
tion system, research into new methods of background control, and
improvements in wide-band amplifiers, plus possible further experi¬
mentation with lines and frames, polarization, and new forms of
synchronizing signals.
The State University of Iowa station will test different
systems of modulation, conduct experiments concerning frequency
stability and band width, measure field intensity to determine
results of polarization, and otherwise carry on engineering experi¬
mentation tending to develop uniform transmission standards of
acceptable technical design, plus training of technical personnel.
Neither Purdue nor the State University of Iowa will
engage in public program service.
XXXXXXXXX
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7/26/40
WISNER, FORMER FCC PRESS CHIEF, DIES
G. Franklin Wisner, 61, veteran newspaperman, who was
one of the victims of the New Deal "purge u of the Federal Com¬
munications Commission, died yesterday (Thursday) in Garfield
Hospital in Washington, D. C. , after a long illness.
In the Fall of 1938, Mr. Wisner was discharged on only a
few hours' notice from his post as Chief of the Press Section of
the FCC under a purge instituted by the former Chairman, Frank B.
McNinch. He had lived in retirement since.
Mr. Wisner became Chief of the Press Section of the old
Federal Radio Commission in 1927 and served the Communications
Commission in the same capacity.
He was a member of the National Press Club, and from
1914 to 1921 served as President of the Baltimore Press Club. His
home was at 601 Indian Spring Drive, Silver Springs, Maryland.
In 1921 he came to Washington as correspondent for the
American. The following year he became White House correspondent
for the New York Herald, and later covered the Senate for the old
New York World.
xxxxxxxxxxx
POWER COMPANY USES RADIO TO PROTECT PLANTS
Radio is playing a part in the precautions being taken in
the National Capital to guard against sabotage and malicious tamper¬
ing with the city's vital plants and buildings.
Latest step to be taken in the program of vigilance and
prevention was the launching of a shortwave broadcasting system to
link headquarters of the Potomac Electric Power Co. with its hun¬
dreds of emergency, trouble shooter and line trucks.
Modeled after the police radio, the Pepco control room
is located in the headquarters building at Tenth and E Streets, N. W. ,
and the transmitter is on the grounds of the company's Benning
plant.
J. H. Ferry, Vice President, said the radio dispatching
system starts out with 27 trucks equipped with receiving sets but
that approximately 300 more will be similarly furnished before long.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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TRADE NOTES :
The new 50,000-watt radio transmitter of the Westinghouse
Broadcasting Station WBZ, Boston, located at Hull, Mass. , will go
on the air for the first time, Saturday, July 27. A special NBC
network program originating in Radio City, New York, at 9:00 p.M. ,
EDST, will formally open the new Westinghouse plant to serve the
Boston market.
Senator Overton, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on
District Appropriations, this week said he would ask the Commis¬
sioners to submit estimates on the equipping of all police scout
cars with two-way radio.
Department store advertisers recently made a comprehen¬
sive report on their experience with radio, in the form of a panel
discussion held at the 1940 annual meeting of the National Retail
Dry Goods Association, whose members account for $4, 000, 000, 000
sales volume a year. CBS has Just reprinted the heart of that
discussion in a brochure, because of the vast advertising experi¬
ence of the department store executives.
For the second consecutive year, the World Series will
be broadcast exclusively over WOR and the coast-to-coast Mutual
network under the sponsorship of the Gillette Safety Razor Company.
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis this week awarded the broadcasting
rights, estimated at $100,000 to the razor company and the Mutual
network. An option also was taken on the 1941 World Series'
broadcasting rights.
Station WCBS in Springfield, Ill. , an affiliate of the
Illinois State Journal, becomes a supplementary outlet to the basic
NBC-Blue Network, August 1. Station WAKR, recently constructed in
Akron, Ohio, becomes a member of the basic Blue Network, October 1.
The addition of these two stations brings the total number of NBC
affiliates to 195, a gain of 17 stations since the first of the
year.
Matching the Federal Government's zeal in cementing this
country's relations with its Latin neighbors, Columbia's "American
School of the Air" is drawing heavily on nations south of the Rio
Grande for broadcast material slated for programs beginning next
Fall. More than 15,000,000 school children will listen to these
broadcasts during the next semester, according to Sterling Fisher,
Director of Columbia's Department of Education. Among the govern¬
ments that have already officially signified their intentions of
participating are: the Philippines, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico,
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, the Dominican Republic,
honduras, Mexico, Panama and El Salvador.
XXXXXXXXXX
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7/26/40
MINIATURE NETWORKS USED TO DEMONSTRATE FM
Two miniature networks, operating on the same principle
as great broadcast stations, are being used in demonstrations by
D. Lee Chesnut, General Electric engineer in the Company* s Phila¬
delphia Office, to dramatize and simplify frequency modulation for
radio station personnel as well as general audiences. Fashioned
in his own home workshop, Mr. Chesnut* s unique equipment set-up
utilizes a Golden Network, consisting of frequency modulated Sta¬
tions GEM and KXFM, and a Green Network with Stations GEAM and
KXAM airing on amplitude modulation.
The center point of attraction is a completely collapsible
midget house with a cut-away front disclosing two radio receiving
sets - an FM set on one side and an AM on the other. Illuminated
lettering below each receiver indicates which is in operation. On
either side of the structure are control panels, one controlling
all things relating to FU broadcasting and the other AM. An aerial,
made up of two collapsible automobile aerials, towers over the roof.
A few feet away from the house on each side, "broadcast
stations" and miniature towers have been set up on tables; on one
side GEAM and GEFM, on the other KXFM and KXAM. Transmitting power
for each of the four stations is supplied by tiny transmitters
housed in G-E wireless record-players. Atop each tower are the
station call letters painted black on a frosted glass which forms
the front of a small illuminated box with a background of green or
golden light, depending on the network to which the station belongs.
In the demonstrations such troublesome interference-
makers as the electric razor, the violet- ray machine, and a spark
coil operated from a battery have been used to show how FM mini¬
mizes interference.
xxxxxxxx
COUGHLIN PLANS TO RESUME RADIO TALKS IN OCTOBER
The Rev. Charles E. Coughlin is reported from Detroit to
he making plans to resume his Sunday afternoon radio broadcasts
the second Sunday in October with a series of half-hour programs
devoted, "among other things", to a discussion of the principles and
personalities involved in the presidential campaign.
His radio agents, Aircrafters, Inc. , have written to about
twenty-one large stations throughout the country in an effort to
reserve the necessary time. The stations have been offered the
alternative of granting half-hour periods for a direct broadcast
from Royal Oak or a transcription broadcast later in the day. Most
of the stations approached have carried the priest’s broadcasts in
the past. Approached also are a few larger stations not previously
included in the Coughlin chain.
XXXXXXXXXX
— 12 —
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
0
INDEX TO ISSUE OF JULY 30, 1940
National Radio Day Proposed In House Bill . . . 2
Fly Calls At WhiteHouse; Committee Is Delayed . 2
CBS Attacks ASCAP As Elliott Roosevelt Signs . 3
AP Negotiating On "Sponsored News" . 4
FCC Will Receive Briefs On Monopoly Report . 5
Porter Qaits FCC; To Enter Private Practice . 5
Florida Radio Libel Law Held Unconstitutional . 6
Niles Trammel Introduced To Capital Press . 6
Ship Radiotelegraph Rules Are Modified . 7
McDonald And McCormick Co-Hosts At Newspaper Party . 8
Fly Will Be Away From Capital For Two Weeks . 8
Trade Notes . 9
Marine Radio Equipment Approved By Jett . 10
Special FM Station To Be Set By For NAB Meeting . 10
Poppele Sees 50,000 FM Sets In N.Y. In Year . 11
Nation To Join In Hour’s Tribute To Radio . 12
No. 1254
July 30, 1940
NATIONAL RADIO DAY PROPOSED IN HOUSE BILL
Designation of August 26th of each year as National Radio
Day was proposed last week in a joint resolution introduced in the
House of Representatives by Representative Dingell (D. ), of
Michigan.
The resolution provides:
"That the President of the United States is authorized
and directed to issue a proclamation designating August 26 of each
year as National Radio Day, calling upon officials of the Govern¬
ment to display the flag of the United States on all Government
buildings on that day and inviting the people of the United States
to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies. "
The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary
Committee for consideration.
Representative Dingell said that the day was chosen to
commemorate the advent of commercial broadcasting 20 years ago and
to call attention to the special radio exhibitions planned at the
Mew York and San Francisco World Fairs during August of this year.
xxxxxxxxx
FLY CALLS AT WHITE HOUSE; COMMITTEE IS DELAYED
While the broadcasting industry awaited the appointment
of the proposed National Communications Committee, Chairman James L.
Fly called on President Roosevelt at the White House on Saturday.
He had no comment to make on the visit, however.
Chairman Fly was asked for comment at his Monday press
conference on the story that broadcasters were disturbed over the
prospect that President Roosevelt will make no political speeches
over the air this campaign but will make periodic radio talks to
the nation.
He declined to comment but did express the opinion that
the usual "fireside chat" of the President is not a political talk
XXXXXXXX
- 2 -
7/30/40
CBS ATTACKS ASCAP AS ELLIOTT ROOSEVELT SIGNS
The current scrap between the broadcasting industry and
the American Society of Authors, Composers, and Publishers grew
hotter along with the weather last week as Paul W. Keston, Vice-
President of CBS, called upon advertisers and agencies to help
thwart "ASCAP1 s $4, 400, 000 squeeze play against radio", and
Elliott Roosevelt became the first broadcaster to sign the new
5-year ASCAP contract.
Elliott Roosevelt, who is President of the Texas State
Network, pledged nine stations of his hook-up to the terms of the
copyright pool for the right to use its music on the air. He
promised that the remaining ten outlets of the network would sub¬
scribe to the contract, which becomes effective January 1, 1941.
Mr. Roosevelt said he was accepting the contract, con¬
trary to the stand of the National Association of Broadcasters,
which charges that the Composer group is a monopoly and that its
new demands are exorbitant, because the impending ASCAP agreement
"places the burden of the cost of licensing where it belongs, with
the networks". Under the present method, he explained, the net¬
works take the "lion’s share", 50 percent of advertising revenue
and pay nothing for the use of the music, while the affiliated
stations must pay all music fees. He pointed out that none of
the Texas Network stations are NAB members.
Broadcast Music, Inc. , formed by the radio men to develop
other sources of music to make them independent of the copyright
pool, he said was "started and fathered" by the National and
Columbia broadcasting systems to extend their monopolistic control
to other fields, as they have, in talent, the phonograph, trans¬
cription and related industries. He maintained that if the net¬
works are successful with Broadcast Music in their fight against
ASCAP , they would control the amusement field.
Mr. Keston traced the fight which the broadcasting in¬
dustry has been waging with ASCAP for the last six months and
declared it "is going well".
"During the next six months", he wrote, "the Columbia
network asks that its clients, acting in their own behalf as radio
advertisers, take one step which only they can take — to break the
strangle-hold which ASCAP has hitherto had upon radio broadcasting,
and to win not only this fight against a $4,400,000 increase in
broadcasting costs, but to free radio permanently from the certainty
of future intolerable demands.
"While broadcasters have always been willing to pay a fair
amount on a reasonable basis for the privilege of broadcasting
music, we are convinced that it is utterly impossible to find any
ground for negotiation with an organization which has promulgated
these demands as a final ultimatum.
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"Columbia has therefore decided, for its network and for
its owned and operated stations, that it will not and cannot sub¬
mit to these demands.
"The gun ASCAP is pointing at our heads will be fired
January 1, 1941, after which no ASCAP music will be available for
CBS programs. But by that time, with the work that has been done
and which can be done by our advertisers and ourselves between
now and then, there should be nothing but a blank cartridge in the
breech. "
After describing the accomplishments of the industry in
the organization of Broadcast Music, Inc. , Mr. Keston said:
"Reduced to its plainest terms, only one thing is needed
between now and January 1st to free radio broadcasting from ASCAP* s
$4, 400, 000 squeeze-play. This thing is the determination of radio
advertisers that they will popularize only the music which will
continue to be available to them after December 31, 1940. And
that can be accomplished very simply — Just by playing this music
on the air on commercial programs. If the transition to non-ASCAP
music is begun at once, virtually every hit tune in America should
lie outside of ASCAP* s clutch before January 1.
XXXXXXXX
AP NEGOTIATING ON "SPONSORED NEWS"
The Associated Press and a number of radio stations cur¬
rently are negotiating for the commercial news service now offered
Iby the AP with talks reported "progressing satisfactorily", accord¬
ing to Editor & Publisher. 0. S. Gramling, AP Executive Assistant
in Charge of Membership, with W. J. McCambridge, AP Assistant
General Manager, are conducting the talks. However, no contracts
have been signed since that with WNEW, New York, last month.
Major consideration of the AP executive charged with
reaching satisfactory agreement with radio stations is directed
toward the formulation of a method whereby AP news may be made
available to the nationwide networks under commercial sponsorship.
No such method can be announced at this time, but an
announcement may be made sometime in the Fall, it was said.
The nationwide plan, the AP said, is still "in the cor¬
respondence stage with no definite plan set for the AP for pushing
and working on it. "
xxxxxxxxxx
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7/30/40
FCC WILL RECEIVE BRIEFS ON MONOPOLY REPORT
The Federal Communications Commission has announced that
in connection with its investigation of chain broadcasting it
would receive briefs filed by interested parties on or before
September 15, 1940.
A committee of the Commission composed of Commissioners
Brown, Walker and Thompson, submitted their report to the Commis¬
sion on June 12, 1940, and recommended the promulgation of regu¬
lations to eliminate certain practices in chain broadcasting.
Copies of the Committee’s report, with its Memorandum of Submittal
containing the recommendations of the Committee, are being sent to
the licensees of all broadcast stations. The Commission invites
the submission of their views on the issues raised by the report.
Copies will also be supplied upon request to any other interested
party desiring to consider submission of a brief or statement.
It was also announced that the Mutual Broadcasting
System, Inc. , has recently filed a motion with the Commission
requesting the adoption of temporary regulation directed toward
maintaining the status quo in chain broadcasting pending the
promulgation of permanent regulations by the Commission.
Briefs should be directed solely to the accuracy of
factual statements contained in the report of the Committee, to
the recommendations contained in the Committee’s Memorandum of
Submittal, and to the advisability of the adoption of the temporary
regulation requested by the Mutual Broadcasting System, Inc. , the
FCC stated.
xxxxxxxxx
PORTER QUITS FCC; TO ENTER PRIVATE PRACTICE
George B. Porter, Assistant General Counsel of the Federal
Communications Commission, has resigned to practice law. He has
been in charge of radio broadcast litigation for the FCC since it
was established.
Mr. Porter recently completed a series of investigations
of Texas radio station cases, in which it was alleged that the
licensees were not the real owners of the stations. These cases
are still pending.
He was the principal investigator in the case of Station
WSAL at Salisbury, Md. , which was put off the air because of alleg¬
ed misrepresentations as to its ownership. Some angles of this
oase still are pending before the Commission.
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Mr. Porter, a son of Interstate Commerce Commissioner
Claude B. Porter, was appointed an attorney in the Legal Division
of the Federal Radio Commission, predecessor of the present body,
in 1931. Later that year he was made Assistant General Counsel
and in 1933 he became Acting General Counsel, serving in this
capacity until July 1, 1934, shen the FCC came into being. Mr.
Porter then was succeeded by Paul 0. P. Spearman as General Counsel.
On October 5, 1934, he was made Assistant General Counsel in charge
of broadcast litigation.
xxxxxxxxxx
FLORIDA RADIO LIBEL LAW HELD UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Florida’s radio libel law, through which station opera¬
tors, in an enactment by the State Legislature in 1939, sought to
protect themselves against damage suits, has been declared un¬
constitutional by Judge Bayard B. Shields of the Duval County
Circuit Court, Jacksonville.
The law provides: "The owner, lessee, licensee or
operator of a radio broadcasting station and the agents or employees
of any such owner, lessee, licensee or operator, shall not be liable
for any damages for any defamatory or libelous statements published
or uttered in or as a part of a radio broadcast by one other than
such owner, lessee, licensee, or operator or agent or employee
thereof, unless the said owner, lessee, licensee, and operator or
agent or employee affirmatively declares that such statements are
made for and in behalf of such owner, lessee, licensee or operator
of such radio station or its agent or employee. "
Judge Shields said that "the act clearly violates the
spirit and the letter of Sections 1, 4, 12 and 13 of the Declara¬
tion of Rights of the Constitution of Florida. "
XXXXXXXXX
NILES TRAMMEL INTRODUCED TO CAPITAL PRESS
Washington newspaper men and radio figures met Niles
Trammel, newly-elected President of the National Broadcasting
Company, last Friday afternoon at a cocktail party held at the
Willard Hotel.
XXXXXXXXX
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SHIP RADIOTELEGRAPH RULES ARE MODIFIED
The Federal Communications Commission has modified cer¬
tain of its Rules Governing Ship, Coastal and Marine Relay Services
in order that ship radiotelegraph stations licensed to operate with¬
in the high frequency bands (between 4,000 and 23,000 kilocycles)
may make more effective use of their transmitting equipment by
incorporating crystal control at reasonable cost. The changes
effect Sections 7.58, 8.81(a), 8.96, and Part 1 of Appendix B of
the General Rules.
Outstanding licenses of approximately 536 non-Gove mment
ship radio telegraph stations of the United States uniformly author¬
ize transmission on 48 standardized frequencies distributed through¬
out the high frequency spectrum within the following bands recogniz¬
ed for this service by the General Radio Regulations of Cairo, 1938,
annexed to the International Telecommunication Convention, Madrid,
1932:
4,115 to 4,165 kc. ; 5,500 to 5,550 kc. ; 6,200 to 6,250 kc;
8,230 to 8,330 kc. ; 11,000 to 11,100 kc. ; 12,340 to 12,500 kc.;
16,460 to 16,660 kc. and 22,000 to 22,200 kc.
By reason of the Commission's action it will be possible,
through the requirement of more stringent frequency tolerances on
certain frequencies, to increase the number of these licensed
frequencies from 48 to 62. In addition, the harmonic relationship
of the frequencies in each ship station band to those in the other
bands will be substantially improved. The "harmonic relationship"
between the frequencies is the factor which provides for use by a
ship station of a large number of transmitting frequencies with a
minimum number of Piezo— electric crystals employed for accurately
controlling the frequencies which reduces equipment costs. The
use of crystal- controlled equipment of this type tends to promote
flexibility in the use of frequencies, as well as adherence to the
assigned frequencies. As the number of high frequency bands avail¬
able to a ship station increases, the ability of the vessel to carry
on communication over various distances up to several thousand miles
and at any desired time of day or night also increases.
The Commission's action in modifying these rules was
effected through the cooperation of other interested Government
departments, and in some respects is said to be advantageous to
the radio communication services carried on by these departments.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 7 -
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7/30/40
McDonald and McCormick co-hosts at newspaper party
Correspondents returning to Washington are still talking
about the memorable party given to the newspaper men at the
Democratic National Convention by Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. ,
and Col. Robert R. McCormick, editor and publisher of the Chicago
Tribune. It took place aboard Commander McDonald’s famous yacht
!the "Mizpah" , one of the largest and most beautiful yachts on the
Great Lakes. The affair was a highlight of enjoyment in what the
newspaper men otherwise said was one of the dullest and most somber
political conventions in years.
The guest list read almost like that of a Gridiron Dinner.
It included Roy W. Howard, Chairman of Board, Scripps-Howard News-
I papers, New York City; Henry L. Mencken, Baltimore Sun, Baltimore,
Md. ; Eugene Meyer, publisher, Washington Post, Washington, D. C. ;
Amon G. Carter, publisher, Fort Worth Star- Telegram, Fort Worth,
Texas; Melville Ferguson, editor-in-chief, Philadelphia Evening
Bulletin, Philadelphia, Pa. ; Clark Howell, publisher, Atlanta
Constitution, Atlanta, Ga. ; Frank Kent, Baltimore Sun, Baltimore,
Md. ; James G. Stahlman, publisher, Nashville Banner, Nashville , Tenn. ;
Paul Block, Jr., New York City; Roy C. Flannagan, Richmond News-
Leader, Richmond, Va. ; Richard Forster, Columbus correspondent,
Cincinnati Times- Star, Columbus, Ohio; Harry J. Grant, Chairman of
the Board, Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wis. ; Robert C. Harris,
News Editor, Cincinnati Times-Star, Cincinnati, 0. ; Walter M.
Harrison, Managing Editor, Oklahoma City Oklahoman & Times,
Oklahoma City, Okla. ; J. R. Knowland, publisher, Oakland Tribune ,
Oakland, Calif.; W. J. Conners, Jr., publisher, Buffalo Courier-
Express , Buffalo, N. Y. ; Kyle D. Palmer, political editor, Los
Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif. ; Elzey Roberts, publisher,
St. Louis Star-Times, St. Louis, Mo. ; James L. Wright, correspondent,
Buffalo Evening News. Washington, D. C. ; and Earle Behrens, San
Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, Calif.
xxxxxxxxx
FLY WILL BE AWAY FROM CAPITAL FOR TWO WEEKS
James L. Fly, Chairman of the Federal Communications Com¬
mission, left Washington late Tuesday for New York City in company
with Lieut. E. K. Jett, FCC Chief Engineer, to attend the conference
on television Wednesday.
Following the New York conference with the National
Television Systems Committee, he will go to San Francisco to address
the National Association of Broadcasters and to participate in the
coast-to-coast broadcast linking the two World Fairs.
Chairman Fly also will inspect television developments on
the Pacific Coast before returning to Washington. He is expected
to be away from the Capital for at least two weeks.
XXXXXXXX
7/30/40
TRADE NOTES
Crosley Corporation and subsidiaries reports for
months to June 30: Net profit, $96,661, equal to 18 cents
on 545,800 capital shares, against $402,057, or 73 cents a
last year.
six
each
share
"The Death of Lord Haw Haw", the Nazi radio commentator
who is reputed to be an Oxfordian Britisher, is the title of a
new detective story by Brett Rutledge. The advertisement asks:
"Was Lord Haw Haw murdered in New York?"
The amount of newspaper advertising used to promote
Pillsbury's flour and cereals will be increased more than 100
percent in the current fiscal year, Howard W. Files, Vice President
in Charge of Advertising and Sales for the Pillsbury Flour Mills
Company, announced this week. Pillsbury spends about $1,000,000
a year in advertising, more than half of which goes to radio.
On its own motion, the Federal Communications Commission,
by a Board consisting of Commissioners Fly, Chairman, Walker and
Thompson, last week reconsidered its action of July 16 in granting
the application of the Riverside Broadcasting Co. to construct a
new station at Riverside, Calif., to operate on 1420 kilocycles,
250 watts power, unlimited time, and set the application down for
simultaneous hearing with three conflicting applications. The
other applications are Broadcasting Corporation of America and
Mollin Investment Co. , to construct new stations at Riverside to
operate on 1390 kilocycles, 1 kilowatt power, unlimited time, and
1390 kilocycles, 500 watts power, daytime only, respectively; and
Merced Broadcasting Co., to change frequency and increase power of
its existing station at Merced, Calif. , to 1390 kilocycles, 1
kilowatt power day, 500 watts power night, unlimited time. These
three applications were designated for hearing at the July 16 meeting
Steve Early, secretary to President Roosevelt, shot a
one over par 73 at the exclusive Burning Tree Country Club golf
course, using only one of his irons, last week.
Among other members of Mr. Earlyfs foursome was Harry C.
Butcher, Vice President of the Columbia Broadcasting System in
Washington, whose score was not reported but whose golf is said to
be usually very good.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
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7/30/40
MARINE RADIO EQUIPMENT APPROVED BY JETT
Lieut. E. K. Jett, Chief Engineer of the Federal Communi¬
cations Commission, has approved the following types of marine
radiotelegraph transmitters as capable of meeting the requirements
of the applicable sections of the Rules Governing Ship Service:
Main radiotelegraph transmitters approved as capable of
meeting the requirements of Section 8.142 of the Rules
Governing Ship Service of October 1, 1939, as amended:
Manufacturer Type No .
Federal Telegraph Company 155-B
Radiomarine Corp. of America ET-8010-C and D
Main and emergency radiotelegraph transmitters approved
as capable of meeting the requirements of Section 8.142
and 8.144 of the Rules Governing Ship Service of October
1, 1939, as amended:
Manu facturer Type No.
Federal Telegraph Company 15 5- 1#. 01- A
Radiomarine Corp. of America ET-8010-CA and- DA
Lieutenant Jett has also approved a list of designated
spare parts to be associated with each of the approved marine
radiotelegraph transmitters listed hereinabove in accordance with
the provisions of Section 8.234 of the Rules Governing Ship Service.
Lists of spare parts required for specific types of equipment
approved by the Commission are furnished to its inspectors in charge
at principal ports and are available to others upon request.
XXXXXXXX
SPECIAL FM STATION TO BE SET BY FOR NAB MEETING
A complete FM station operating on a 16-hour daily sched¬
ule will be set up in San Francisco next month when members of the
broadcasting industry come from all parts of the country for the
17th annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters.
It will be the first occasion that an FM station has been on the
air on the West Coast, offering FM-quality programs.
The special demonstration FM transmitter, shipped from
New York to San Francisco for the occasion, will employ a power of
1000 watts with the call letters W 10 XLV. High-fidelity programs
are to include special transcriptions as well as originations by
Station KSFO in San Francisco. W 10 XLV will be in operation from
August 3 to 7 on a channel of 43.4 megacycles under a temporary
license issued by the Federal Communications Commission.
XXXXXXXXXX
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7/30/40
POPPELE SEES 50,000 M SETS IN N.Y. IN YEAR
Preparing for the inauguration of the WOR frequency
modulation transmitter Thursday night, John R. Poppele, Chief
Engineer, discussed the future of FM in an interview published on
the radio page of the New York Times last Sunday.
While he has great expectations for FM, he does not bandy
about phrases such as "will revolutionize the industry", the Time s
said. He predicts there will be 50,000 FM receivers in the metro¬
politan area within a year.
"Up to the present", said Mr. Poppele, "FM* s development
has been confined chiefly to the laboratories, and a handful of
listeners always interested in scientific progress. That FM will
grow there is no doubt, but its growth must be rational and con¬
trolled, and at all times in keeping with the needs and requirement
of nation-wide communication systems. FM comes into the field with
a sound and substantial foundation in research, experimentation and
careful programming, without the booms and speculations which so
often bring disaster to new industries. "
One of the most important problems immediately confront¬
ing FM, according to Mr. Poppele, is programming. For the most
part existing FM stations have been rebroadcasting the programs
of regular broadcast band stations, or using recordings. The new
FCC regulations, however, stipulate that all FM stations must
originate two hours of high fidelity programs daily - one hour dur¬
ing the day and one hour during the evening. Since it may be some
while before any sizable commercial income is developed, it is not
likely that FM stations will be able to expend large sums on pro¬
gram talent, according to Mr. Poppele.
There are some programs originating in New York which WOR
cannot carry because of other local commitments. In addition,
many of WOR1 s important musical programs will be broadcast by
W2X0R simultaneously with broadcast on WOR' s regular 710 kilocycle
channel.
Optimistic as he is about the new system, Mr. Poppele doe
not foresee any general and immediate public rush to buy FM sets.
Instead, he visualizes a gradual development, much like that of the
radio industry in recent years.
"Unquestionably we shall find FM adapters being used in
years to come on the present radio receivers which have not yet
reached a stage of obsolescence in the average home", he continued.
"Finally, when FM has been firmly established, the mass of listen¬
ers will take advantage of the combination sets then offered by
manufacturers. FM still has a great deal of experimentation ahead
ol it, particularly in production techniques. While engineers have
been studying and working with FM for years, program builders, pro¬
ducers, directors, conductors, musicians, actors and sound effects
men have still to become acquainted with it. They will ha.ve to
explore the medium and learn its assets and liabilities. "
XXXXXXXX
11
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7/30/40
NATION TO JOIN IN HOUR’S TRIBUTE TO RADIO
Representatives of government, religion, education, labor,
civil liberties groups, women's organizations and the press, as
well as world-famous entertainers, will join the World's Fair of
1940 in New York and the Golden Gate International Exposition at
San Francisco in a gigantic tribute to radio broadcasting on
Saturday, August 3rd. The climax is to be a nationwide broadcast,
titled "This Is Radio", over more than 500 stations from 9:00 to
10:00 P.M. , EST.
Networks of the National Broadcasting Company, Mutual
Broadcasting System and Columbia Broadcasting System will be com¬
bined and scores of independent stations linked to the networks
for the occasion. Major portion of the broadcast will come from
the Court of Peace at the New York World's Fair but important
contributions will be made from the San Francisco Fair and studios
in Hollywood, Chicago and other cities. Dr. John S. Young, Director
of Radio and. Television for the New York World's Fair, and R. C.
Coleson, Radio Director of the San Francisco Exposition, are to be
masters of ceremonies.
The broadcast will open at the New York Fhir with an ode
to radio, written by John La Touche, author of the stirring "Ballad
for Americans. " From New York, the show will include the NBC
Symphony orchestra, Paul Whiteman, Frank Black, Howard Barlow,
Morton Gould, Frank Munn, Virginia Rea, Parker Fennelly, Arthur
Allen, Clifton Fadiraan, Ted Husing, Graham McNamee, John S. Young,
Conrad Thibault, Dorothy Gordon, Major Edward Bowes, Raymond Gram
Swing, Tommy Riggs, James Melton and Richard Crooks.
San Francisco and Hollywood will contribute the San Fran¬
cisco Symphony, Amos 'n' Andy, Joe Penner, Orson Welles, Frances
Langford, Fannie Brice, Morton Downey and many others.
Following the radio ode, a special dramatic presenta¬
tion by Norman Corwin will be broadcast from California. This, in
turn, will be followed by a symposium of distinguished speakers on
"Freedom of F&dio". Among those taking part will be Rabbi Jonah B.
Wise, Walter W. Van Kirk, Executive Secretary of the Federal
Council of Churches; Roger Baldwin of the American Civil Liberties
Union; James L. Fly, Chairman of the Federal Communications Com¬
mission; Mrs. Harold V. Milligan, President of the National Council
of Women, and John W. Studebaker, United States Commissioner of
Education. Speakers yet to be named will represent Labor, the
Press and the Catholic faith.
Harvey D. Gibson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of
the World's Fair of 1940 in New York, and Marshall Dill, President
of the Golden Gate International Exposition, will pay a brief tri¬
bute to broadcasting. Following their talks, plaques expressing the
ideal of Freedom of Radio will be unveiled simultaneously at both
Fairs.
A new tone poem written especially for the occasion by
Carl Haverlin and Paul Nordoff will be read at the conclusion of the
broadcast. Conrad Thibault, baritone, will be assisted by the NBC
Symphony and a chorus. The grand finale of the program is to be
the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner" by artists and spectators
at the ceremonies on both sides of the continent.
XXXXXXXXXX
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINp:ON, D. C.
u 48?^' VyV
&
INDEX TO ISSUE OF AUGUST 2, 1940.
FCC Optimistic After Television Conference . 2
Two Plead Guilty To Unlicensed Radio Operation . 4
Sarnoff To Be Questioned By Senate Committee . 5
ASCAP Addresses NAB Convention Despite Refusal . 7
Senate Committee Alert To Radio "Subterfuges” . 7
Mullen To Be General Manager Of NBC .
Radio Station Income Shows Increase For 1939. .
Little Profit Seen In Political Radio Business . 9
Philips Nosing Out U. S. Firms In Argentina . 10
U-235 Gives Debut At WBZ Ceremony . 10
Trade Notes . 11
No. 1255
CO oo
FCC OPTIMISTIC AFTER TELEVISION CONFERENCE
Officials of the Federal Communications Commission were
optimistic over the prospect of an early agreement in the radio
industry on television standards following an organization meeting
of the National Television Systems Committee in New York City.
The meeting, which was attended by Chairman James L. Fly,
and Chief Engineer E. K. Jett, was said to be entirely harmonious
despite previous discord within the industry.
Lieutenant Jett made the prediction that an accord which
will pave the way for the commercialization of television may be
reached by late Fall or early Winter. Chairman Fly did not return
to Washington but went directly to the convention of the National
Association of Broadcasters in San Francisco.
No further meetings of the general committee have been
scheduled pending a study of various angles of the problem by
sub-committees. FCC officials plan no further conferences with
the Committee until It is ready to report.
The Committee, organized under the auspices of the Radio
Manufacturers’ Association, was addressed at the Hotel Roosevelt
by J. S. Knowlson, President of the Association, who pointed out
that the FCC was prepared to adopt television standards as soon as
the industry could show that it was in accord on a set of standards.
Chairman Fly said he saw in the undertaking a chance for
industry and government to cooperate and pledged the aid of the
Commission. He made it clear, however, that the FCC has no inten¬
tion of interfering.
”The Commission wants to cooperate in every way but yours
is the load”, he said. ,rWe stand ready to meet at any time for
round-table discussions or to witness demonstrations. But yours
is a job by study, consultation, research, joint research and by
allocation of such work to develop a satisfactory set of standards
for television. I have no doubt that a satisfactory set of stand¬
ards can be developed.
”1 hope your work will cover every phase in the field of
television so that the whole program will be coordinated. Former
standards have been inadequate for a uniform method of telecasting.
In this work patent interests of individual companies must be
recognized. No one would ask to encroach on this.
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"Moreover”, he added, "I don’t want anyone to ask me
arbitrarily when television will be ready for commercial opera¬
tion. That job is yours. To this body we expect to come back
because the FCC must rely on it before adopting any single set of
standards. We have no alternative but to move forward with you
gentlemen. "
Mr. Fly said that he expected a substantial number of
stations to be on the air in the near future. So far as the FCC
is concerned, he continued, "the more the merrier". However, he
warned that there should be "no squawking" about wavelengths. They
are in the public domain, he pointed out.
"For one thing", he asserted, "the Commission is not go¬
ing to issue licenses to every Tom, Dick and Harry, to sit tight
until things get good. Applicants must be prepared to go somewhere
in development and experimentation. "
President Knowlson of EMA, in opening the Committee
meeting said, in part:
"You have been called together to form this industry
committee, not as a part of RMA but under the auspices of RMA,
to search for and develop the best possible standards which may
be set up for television at this time.
"Here is a new art clamoring to be born - and there is
no reason to suppose that the birth of television will be any
easier or free from pain than any other birth. "
Chief Engineer Jett stated that television standards
are absolutely essential- before television can be launched.
"It is hoped that the standards eventually adopted will
be truly representative of the industry", said Lieutenant Jett,
"and also permit future development. Some standards must be
frozen now, such as the 6 megacycle channel, but the way should be
kept open to improve this and other standards later on. "
Chairman Baker, who later appointed "panel" or "sub¬
committee" Chairmen for detailed technical studies, stated that
the Television Systems Committee "is charged with the responsibil¬
ity of determining the basic standa.rds for a system of communica¬
tion capable of transmitting intelligence in a form which will,
in the future, probably have more effect on the life of the American
people than any system known today.
"The real possibilities of television", continued
Chairman Baker, "as a means of education and entertainment, are
today unknown. Television represents a new textbook as yet un¬
opened - for the theatre, a new stage whose curtains have not been
drawn, and for the movies, a screen that is as yet dark.
3
8/2/40
"Television is peculiar in that in order to insure full
utilization by the public, it requires a fairly complete set of
standards before it is launched commercially. "
The organization of the National Television Systems
Committee as appointed by President Knowlson of RMA, follows:
Chairman, Dr. W. R. G-. Baker, Director of the Engineer¬
ing Department of the Radio Manufacturers Association; Bell Tele¬
phone Laboratories, A. A. Oswald; Columbia Broadcasting Systems,
Inc., Adrian Murphy, Executive Director of Television; Don Lee
Broadcasting System, Harry R. Lubcke, Director of Television;
Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc., Allen B. DuMont, President;
Farnsworth Television & Radio Corporation, B. Ray Cummings, Vice-
President in Charge of Engineering; General Electric Company,
E. F. W. Alexanderson; Hazeltine Corporation, Daniel E. Harnett,
Chief Engineer; John V. L. Hogan, representing Consulting Engi¬
neers; Hughes Tool Company, Albert I. Lodwick; The Institute of
Radio Engineers, Inc. , Dr. A. N. Goldsmith; Philco Corporation,
David B. Smith; Radio Corporation of America, E. W. Engstrom;
Stromberg- Carl son Telephone Mfg. Co. , Frederic C. Young, Chief
Engineer; Television Productions, Inc., representative to be
appointed, and Zenith Radio Corporation, John R. Howland, Secretary
and Assistant to the President.
Details of organization and future procedure were arrang¬
ed at the New York meeting. Many companies, including research
and technical experts, will serve on various "panels” of the com¬
mittee. Chairman Baker appointed and announced the organization
of "panels" or "subcommittees" with their respective chairmen,
as follows: System Analysis, P. C. Goldmark; Subjective Aspects,
Dr. A. N. Goldsmith; Television Sjectra, J. E. Brown; Transmitter
Power, E. W. Engstrom; Transmitter Characteristics, Philo T.
Farnsworth; Transmitter- Receiver Coordination, I. J. Kaar; Picture
Resolution, D. E. Harnett; Synchronization, T. T. Goldsmith, and
Radiation Polarization, David B. Smith.
xxxxxxxx
TWO PLEAD GUILTY TO UNLICENSED RADIO OPERATION
The Federal Communications Commission disclosed this
week that recent investiga.tion of unlicensed radio operation in
San Francisco resulted in the indictment of Ralph Wildt and Louis
F. Books for violation of Sections 301 and 318 of the Communications
Act of 1934, as amended. Both defendants pleaded guilty and will
be sentenced by the United States District Court on August 9.
Peter Ruggeri, a minor, also charged with operating an
unlicensed radio station will be prosecuted under the Juvenile
Delinquency Act. His case is set for trial August 5.
XXXXXXXX
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SARNOFF TO BE QUESTIONED BY SENATE COMMITTEE
The Senate Interstate Commerce Committee hearings on
the renomination of Thad H. Brown as Federal Communications Com¬
missioner took an unexpected turn this week as Senator Tobey (R. ),
of New Hampshire, turned the spotlight on the Radio Corporation
of America and the 1931 RCA anti-trust suit.
David Sarnoff, President of RCA, was first invited and
then ordered to be subpenaed to answer certain questions regarding
the suit and RCA. He voluntarily agreed to testify at 10 o’clock
Tuesday morning.
The FCC Monopoly Committee, of which Mr. Brown is Chair¬
man, was sharply criticized by Chairman Wheeler of the Senate
Committee for its failure to investigate charges of bribery of
two former United States Senators and a Court Clerk in connection
with the anti-trust suit.
Senator Wheeler rebuked Mr. Brown for not undertaking
an investigation of the bribery charges against a licensee of
the Commission. He pointed out that the FCC Monopoly Committee
had gone into the Columbia Broadcasting System-Paramount Pictures
stock deal, which he described as of vastly less importance.
The bribery charges were originally made on the floor
of the House in May, 1938, when a resolution to investigate the
FCC was pending. Senator White, Republican, of Maine, said the
resolution was defeated principally on the ground that the FCC
would conduct the investigation.
Senator Wheeler asked Mr. Brown if he didn’t think it
was important, when charges of this character were made by a mem¬
ber of Congress, that the Monopoly Committee should have gone into
the matter, particularly as it was to investigate monopoly. Mr.
Brown said the Committee sent out notices, but Senator Wheeler
interjected:
"Brown, you can’t hide behind that excuse. It seems to
me that if that Commission has got any brains or any sense at all,
when charges are made of bribe rty by its licensees and you pay no
attention to it, that is a pretty weak excuse and dumb. 11
Senator Tobey said he was prepared to present charges,
including names and dates, showing that two former United States
Senators and an official of a United States Court were bribed to
effect the postponement of the RCA anti-trust suit in 1932 until
after the new administration came into power. He said the monopoly
report of the FCC dealt at great length with the Columbia-Paramount
transaction, but nowhere in the report is there any indication
that the RCA suit was investigated.
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Charging the FCC monopoly report was a startling indict¬
ment, "almost criminal ", of innocent men, Senator Tobey on
Wednesday last engaged in several heated exchanges with Mr. Brown.
Senator Tobey said Mr. Brown had made serious charges
in the Commission Committee’s monopoly report against Columbia
and its officials. He said Mr. Brown had testified at previous
hearings that certain stockholders of Columbia had been "gypped".
If Mr. Brown’s statements are true, Senator Tobey told
the Committee, he should be confirmed; if they are not, he did
not see how the Senate could vote for confirmation.
Senator Tobey, addressing Mr. Brown directly, said the
Senate had a right to rely on statements in the monopoly report,
and if Senators were held up to ridicule and accused of malicious
motives for making comments on the report, he proposed to hold
Mr. Brown responsible.
Mr. Brown insisted that acquisition by Columbia of its
stock from Paramount Pictures resulted in a loss to the minority
stockholders of $43,000 at $5 a share.
At one stage of the inquiry, Senator Tobey denounced
Commissioner Brown for attempting to answer a question by reading
a letter written to the Committee by FCC Chairman James L. Fly.
"Does Mr. Fly have to wet nurse you?" he shouted.
"Leave the letter out of the picture. I want Brown to testify in
his own words. "
John J. Burns, special CBS counsel in the monopoly in¬
quiry, and William J. Norfleet, FCC Chief Accountant, became in¬
volved in a controversy over accounting practices after Mr. Brown
had put the accountant on the stand to explain why he had reported
that CBS used capital funds rather than surplus to buy Paramount
stock.
xxxxxxxxx
A presidential order in Guatemala prohibits the adver¬
tising of national or imported liquors by radio broadcasting or
Dy the use of portable or stationary apparatus fitted with loud
speakers. Violation of this order will be punishable by a fine
of from 10 to 150 quetzales, in addition to any other fines that
may be incurred by such advertising.
xxxxxxxxxx
- 6
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8/2/40
ASCAP ADDRESSES NAB CONVENTION DESPITE REFUSAL
Although, the National Association of Broadcasters refus¬
ed to permit a representative of the American Society of Authors,
Composers and Publishers to address its San Francisco convention,
ASCAP sent a message to the broadcasters this week via an advert¬
isement in a special ASCAP edition of Variety.
"We asked for the privilege of having a representative
address the members of NAB at their convention in San Francisco",
said ASCAP. "The request was denied. Courteously, cordially,
and conclusively.
"Not being able to deliver our message to you in person,
we now deliver it to you in print. Here it is:
"Every broadcaster in the United States who is mindful
of his obligations to serve the public interest, is herewith as¬
sured of our complete cooperation.
"All our music, past, present and future, is available
to all, at terms within the means of all.
"Our 1,109 composer- author members and our 137 music
publisher members will continue to say it with music, because the
public wants music and the public must be served.
"That’s our message. And we present it to you with all
good wishes for the continued progress of the art of broadcasting
and the success of all broadcasters. "
XXXXXXXXX
SENATE COMMITTEE ALERT TO RADIO "SUBTERFUGES"
Chairman Gillette said this week the Senate Campaign
Expenditures Committee would be on the alert for reported "sub¬
terfuges" which he said he understood would be used in giving
radiqtime in behalf of political candidates.
"information has come to the committee", he said at a
press conference, "that elaborate plans are being developed to
utilize the radio in the present campaign in the hope of sponsors
paying for the time without bringing the expenditures within the
statutory campaign limitation. The suggestion takes the form of
having commercial sponsors arrange for guest speakers to appear
on programs. Then the guest speakers would make political speeches.
The candidates and sponsors were not identified by
Senator Gillette.
XXXXXXXX
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MULLEN TO BE GENERAL MANAGER OF NBC
Frank E. Mullen, who since 1939 has been Vice-President
of the Radio Corporation of America in Charge of Advertising and
Publicity, will be appointed to a newly-created position of NBC
Vice-President and General Manager at a meeting of the Directors
of the National Broadcasting Company in New York on Friday. The
appointment is being made upon the recommendation of Niles
Trammel, NBC President.
A friend and business associate of Mr. Trammel for a
dozen years, Mr. Mullen will report directly to the NBC President.
Both executives began their careers with NBC in Chicago, where Mr.
Mullen was NBC Director of Agriculture in 1926-34.
Frank M. Russell, NBC Vice-President in Washington, is
expected to have additional responsibilities under the new manage¬
ment set-up. He is an intimate friend, as well as a business
associate, of Mr. Mullen as their friendship dates back to the
days when they were classmates at Iowa State College.
XXXXXXXXX
RADIO STATION INCOME SHOWS INCREASE FOR 1939
The total revenue of 705 standard broadcast stations
reporting to the Federal Communications Commission for the calen¬
dar year 1939 amounted to $89,990,646, as compared with $79,128,760
for the 660 stations reporting in 1938. This is revealed in fig¬
ures on broadcast income of stations by class and network revealed
this week by the Accounting, Statistical, and Tariff Department
of the Commission.
The tabulation shows that there were 397 stations in
major networks compared with 350 in 1938. The 397 stations receiv¬
ed $22,500,941 from the three major networks, compared with
119,645,447 for the 350 stations in 1938.
There were 519 stations in 1939 each of which had total
net time sales in excess of $25,000 compared with 485 for 1938.
The 519 stations had net time sales of $80,306,134 for
1939, compared with $71,082,465 for the 485 stations in 1938.
XXXXXXXXX
- 8 -
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8/2/40
LITTLE PROFIT SEEN IN POLITICAL RADIO BUSINESS
Because of the loss of valuable commercial time and the
off-setting cost of covering the party conventions, the networks
do not expect to make much profit out of political paid-for radio
time this year.
Broadcasters are still disturbed over the threatened
loss of revenue by the plans of President Roosevelt to refrain
from political debate and the indefinite plans of Congress. So
long as members remain in Washington, it is unlikely that they
will do any intensive political campaigning via the ether.
Having already spent or lost in the cancellation of
commercial contracts nearly $600,000 by covering the political
conventions, the networks now face the cost of carrying the
acceptance speeches of both presidential and vice presidential
candidates as sustaining features.
The Democratic National Convention cost the major net¬
works an estimated $233,942. Added to the $364,700 expended in
covering the G-. O.P sessions in Philadelphia three weeks previous,
the total reaches $598,642 which the networks spent as a part of
their public service operations in keeping the public fully in¬
formed.
Out-of-pocket expenses for the Democratic coverage is
set by NBC at $13,250, by CBS at $25,000 and by MBS at $6,000, a
total of $44,250. Commercial cancellations cost NBC $52,267 in
lost time revenue after discounts and $35,425 in rebates for
talent. CBS lost $75,000 for time and $25,000 for talent. MBS
figures its losses at $2,000 for time and talent. The total com¬
mercial loss for all networks thus amounts to $189,692. Mutual
explains its low losses because it was able to arrange for makeup
broadcasts for most of its clients whose regular programs were cut
out by convention broadcasts.
Total expenses for each network for the conventions were
as follows: NBC, $160,500 for the Republican and $100,942 for
the Democratic conventions; CBS, $195,000 and $125,000; MBS $9,200
and $8,000.
Totals for both conventions were: NBC $261,442; CBS,
$320,000; JABS, $17,200.
XXXXXXXXXX
9
n X : >
8/2/40
PHILIPS NOSING OUT U.S. FIRMS IN ARGENTINA
It is reported locally that the Dutch radio manufactur¬
ing company, Philips, is considering a further extension of its
manufacturing activities in Argentina to compensate for the dis¬
ruption of its production facilities in the Netherlands, accord¬
ing to the American Consulate General at Buenos Aires.
"The expanding activities of the Philips company is one
of the chief factors in the declining Argentine demand for Ameri¬
can radio materials", the report states. "Practically all receiv¬
ing sets now sold in the Argentine market are manufactured in the
country, United States trade consisting of component parts and
tubes. Exports of American radio materials to Argentine during
1939 were valued at $1,376,264, compared with $1,859,216 in the
preceding year and $2,621,806 in 1937.
"The position of American-made tubes in the Argentine
market has been declining as a result of a number of factors,
including increased domestic production, the growing demand for
receiving sets requiring European type tubes, and the intensified
competition of Philips tubes. In the opinion of authorities in
the local trade, the Philips company accounted for approximately
half of the 2,000,000 receiving tubes sold in the Argentine market
during the last calenda.r year.
"It is reliably estimated that the number of receiving
sets now in use throughout Argentina is in excess of a million.
About 200,000 sets are sold annually, more than half of the sales
being in the metropolitan district of Buenos Aires. "
XXXXXXXXXX
U- 235 GIVES DEBUT AT WBZ CEREMONY
On a salt-water marsh in Hull, Mas's. , last Saturday,
the much-discussed member of chemistry's uranium family, known
as U-235, gave its world premiere nublic performance as a usable
source of power when the splitting of one of its atoms turned on
Station WBZ's new 50,000-watt transmitter.
While radio listeners scarcely found the uranium debut
to be as demonstrative as the first bow of a blues singer - only
three metallic clicks marked the atom- splitting process - engineers
said each of those clicks represented the release of 200,000,000
electron volts from a smashed atom.
XXXXXXXXXX
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8/2/40
TRADE NOTES
Frequency modulation radio communication will have its
debut in the utility industry late this Summer when the Indian¬
apolis Power & Light Company plans to put into operation its new
General Electric frequency modulation emergency communications
system. Ten of Indianapolis Power's service cars and trucks are
being equipped with G-E 25-watt FM mobile transmitters and re¬
ceivers for two-way communication. Though they may be on jobs
miles away, these service vehicles will be able to keep in close
touch with main headquarters where a G-E 250-watt station trans¬
mitter will be in operation.
A decision of the Greek Ministry of National Economy
specifies that hereafter all radios sent from abroad free of
charge, as gifts, to persons residing in Greece, will be subject
to a special import tax of 40 percent on their estimated market
value. This is in addition to the regular imoort duty which is
about 40 percent ad valorem. The importation of such radios will
be subject to the issuance of a special import permit by the
Minister of National Economy.
Gross client expenditures on NBC networks were up 16.7$
last month over the corresponding month in 1939, reaching an all
time high for July of $3,830,438 as against $3,283,555 last year.
Cumulative billings for the first seven months increased 9.7$
over the same period last year, totalling $28,390,314 as against
$25,882,492.
Gross expenditures on the NBC Red Network in July were
$3,141,902 compared with $2,713,798 last year, an increase of
15.8$. Gross expenditures on the Blue Network totalled $688,536
as against $569,757 in 1939, an increase of 20.8$.
Cumulative billings for the first seven months on the
Red Network were $22,468,748 compared with $20,863,235 in 1939,
an increase of 7.7$. Blue Network billings totalled $5,921,566
as against $5,019,257 last year, an increase of 18$.
The Mexican Ministry of National Defense announced that
it has learned of four clandestine sending radio stations in addi¬
tion to the one in Cuernavaca, news of which was given previously.
The Ministry adds that "some of these stations are the property
of German citizens", according to the New York Times. Of the
four stations spotted, two are in Cuernavaca, one in Acapulco and
one in Queretaro. All are accused of transmitting "subsersive and
political propaganda, and news" in defiance of law. The Ministry
of Communications has been charged to make the necessary investi¬
gations and take adequate measures.
xxxxxxxxxxx
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF AUGUST 6, 1940.
McCosker Gives Gotham First Full Time "FM" Station . 2
Calls Broadcasting Squatter’s Rights On Air . 3
Broadcasting Day Curtain-Raiser For S.F. Convention . 4
Tfould Hammer Away On National Defense . 5
557 Stations Aid Defense Search . . . 6
Willkie Seeks Equal Radio Time . 7
Can Play Records Without License Court Holds . 8
Citizenship Proof Put Off For 30 Days . 8
DuMont Making U. S. Army Tests . 8
Sarnoff Denies RCA Bribery Allegations . 9
Trade Notes . 10
WMCA Sees News In Advertising . 11
July Billings Up Sharply . 11
Zenith Sales Executive Goes To Wincharger . ..........12
RCA Clears $3,728,621 . 12
No. 1256
August 6, 1940
McCOSKER GIVES GOTHAM FIRST FULL TIME "FM" STATION
Station W2X0R, New York’s first full time ’’FM”, or
static-less broadcaster, went on the air there last week from a
new 1,000- watt transmitter atop the 42- story building at 444 Madison
Avenue. The station will operate 15 hours daily, carrying not only
the regular WOR program, but special higher- quality programs for
two hours daily, one hour each afternoon and another hour during
the evening.
Maj. Edwin H. Armstrong, inventor of staticless broad¬
casting and reception via the FM method, pressed a button to set
the system in operation, and Alfred J. McCosker, President of WOR,
spoke, as did John R. Poppele, Chief Engineer of the WOR outfit.
Music was provided by a symphonic orchestra.
From a special ’’high- quality " studio at the 1440 Broadway
WOR studio, the two hours of special music will be picked up by a
microphone designed to handle tones up to more than 15,000 cycles.
Special wire lines to the W2X0R transmitter, less than a mile dis¬
tant from the studio, will permit of tones up to more than 20,000
cycles. Thus, when one tunes in a program over this system on an
FM set equipped with a high-quality loudspeaker, the result is said
to be such as to permit only instrumental detection of any differ¬
ence between the original tone and the reproduced tone.
The studio mike is called an "Easter Egg" because it
resembles it in shape only it is larger. The oval shape permits
the pickup of extra high frequency tones, it is said, and is of
Bell Laboratory and Western Electric production. Likewise, the
1,000-watt transmitter is Bell Lab. and Western Electric manu¬
facture, made under the license arrangements with Major Armstrong,
with some frequency-stabilization touches added by the Laboratories
men.
The engineers have found, in tests during the past few
days, that good noise- free reception of W2X0R can be had throughout
the Metropolitan area and as far away as Riverhead, Long Island,
nearly seventy mile s from the central part of the city. The sta¬
tion, however, has been designed to give good reception within a
forty to forty-eight mile radius of the transmitter. The frequency
on which W2X0R will operate is 43.4 megacycles, or 43,400 kilocycles.
Although occupying an entire floor of approximately 1800
square feet at 444 Madison Avenue, no programs will originate there.
They will come from WOR’ s Newark and 1440 Broadway studios and
occasionally from the WOR Radio Playhouse. The principal point of
origin for FM broadcasts will be the Broadway studio which has been
redesigned and requipped for high fidelity broadcasting.
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At present there are several thousand FM receivers in
the Metropolitan area. WOR estimates that there will be at least
50,000 within a year.
WOR has assigned three engineers to work exclusively
on FM, under the direction of the station's supervisor of trans¬
mitters, Charles Singer. Uninterrupted service is insured by
three power lines and two special high fidelity broadcast phone
lines (20-20,000 cycles) between the transmitter and the Broad¬
way studios.
An application is pending for permission to operate a
100 watt RCA auxiliary FM transmitter.
The vertical coaxial antenna on the roof stands seventy-
five feet above the roof, some 630 feet above sea level. Two
auxiliary forty foot antennas on the roof are for emergency use
with the FM transmitter, for facsimile, and high frequency short
wave relay broadcasting.
XXXXXXXX
CALLS BROADCASTING SQUATTER'S RIGHTS ON AIR
In an open letter, "They Shall Have Music!", in connec¬
tion with the 25th Anniversary of the American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers, Gene Buck, its President, characterizes the
broadcasters as having "squatter's rights on the air". After re¬
counting successes of the Society down through the years, Mr. Buck
writes: "Thorns come with roses, 'but ain't the roses sweet'.
"Thorns come with roses, 'but ain't the roses sweet'.
It was a songwriter who said that. And it takes a man with a song
in his heart to remember the roses and to forget the thorns.
"The radio chain executives who control the air, have
publicly announced that beginning New Year's Day, ASCAP music will
be barred from the air. What a beautiful way to ring out the old
year and ring in the new!
"The music of the thousands of composers of England,
France, our sister republics in Latin America; 'The Stars and
Stripes Fbrever' , 'God Bless America', 'Over There', to be 'given
the air' by the gentlemen who claim squatter' s rights on the air.
Fantastic? But true! We have their published word for it.
"What will we do? We have a duty and a responsibility
to thousands of enterprises which depend uoon a steady flow of new
music to entertain their patrons. And an equal responsibility to
the thousands of musicians and artists who interpret that music.
And above all to the public, which needs the inspiration and stimu¬
lation and relaxation of music to maintain its morale in these days
of uncertainty.
"The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publish¬
ers is conscious of its duty and will perform it. Whether we’re
on the air or 'given the air', when the public says, 'Let's start
the show, let's have some music', we'll see to it that they shall
have music. "
XXXXXXXXX
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BROADCASTING- DAY CURTAIN-RAISER FOR S.F. CONVENTION
Broadcasting Day last Saturday, a day which will mean
more and more as time goes on, very successfully heralded the
opening of the convention of the National Association of Broad¬
casters at San Francisco. There was a gigantic hookup from the
West Coast linking 500 stations. The keynote address was a message
from President Roosevelt delivered by Stephen Early, his No. 1
Secretary. Chairman James L. Fly, of the Federal Communications
Commission, Neville Miller, President of the NAB, and numerous
radio stars were likewise heard from.
"We have enjoyed the blessings of freedom and liberty so
long that there is a temptation for the words to become abstrac¬
tions", Mr. Early declared. "Yet tonight there are men who can
perhaps hear these words over short-wave transmitters who are suffer¬
ing the tyranny and slavery that follow the loss of freedom. Ex¬
pression of opinion in parts of the world is a felony punishable by
death. It is likewise a crime, according to the credo of the
tyrants, to listen to the opinions of others if such views differ
with the dictator. Yes, tonight there are men who are fighting and
dying to maintain that freedom for themselves and perhaps for us all.'
Mr. Early emphasized the part that broadcasters can play
in national defense by taking care to present facts impartially and
without distortion to help maintain the morale of the people.
"To the broadcasters and the millions of listeners to
this program, I bring greetings and best wishes from the President",
he declared. "You broadcasters know the President’s views on the
relationship of radio to government. Some time ago he pointed out
that while the government had been required to set up essential con¬
trols of radio operation to prevent complete confusion on the air,
in all other respects radio is as free as the press. Tonight I
bring to you my expression of hope that this freedom will forever
endure. "
William Green, President of the American Federation of
Labor, speaking from Washington, asserted that radio had helped
implement free speech "into one of the most powerful weapons at
America's command for the preservation of democracy."
Chairman Fly of the FCC said that radio listeners "have
made it clear that you do not want the magic of radio bent under the
yoke of selfish interests; that you want this public facility left
completely free to serve the interests of the public. "
XXXXXXXXXX
- 4
8/6/40
WOULD HAMMER AWAY ON NATIONAL DEFENSE
Louis Johnson, former Assistant Secretary of War, whose
leaving Washington has caused so much comment, speaking at the
annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters at
San Francisco, declared the big opportunity of the broadcasters
lay in continually hammering home the fact that it is teamwork
that will win in national defense.
"Three years ago I became a radio commentator", Mr.
Johnson said. "For my subject, I took ’National Defense’. For
sponsors, I chose the American people. Since then I have come to
the microphone on an average of almost once a week to discuss my
theme.
"In 1937, America was not awake to the needs for adequate
preparedness. Too many of us lived with a false sense of security.
We had begun to look upon our oceans as impregnable Maginot lines.
It was such state of mind that I felt it my duty to correct.
"As a World War veteran with overseas service, as a former
National Commander of the American Legion, and as a patriotic Ameri¬
can citizen, I realized the importance of national defense. As
soon as I joined the War Department I made it my responsibility to
go out and to convince the American people that national defense was
a basic consideration in the life of our country. To gain the co¬
operation of our citizens, I visited every State in the union at
least once, and, many of them, several times. Altogether I made more
than two hundred public addresses on the subject of national defense.
"With the aid of radio facilities, with the support of
the press, and with the cooperation of military and civic leaders
everywhere, I was able to awaken a great deal of enthusiasm for our
defense program. Some skepticism, I did encounter; and, here and
there, I ran into what radio advertising men call ’sales resistance'
to the ’commodity' I was advertising. Persistence, time, and
especially events in Europe and in Asia at last made our people
national defense conscious .
"National defense in its broadest phases, however, in¬
cludes not only a strong army, an unsurpassed navy and an invincible
air corps, not only an industry geared to produce munitions of war
in time, in quality and in quantity as required, but also a united
nation, a nation spiritually aroused to its grave responsibilities
and ready at all costs to work for a comman end.
"You broadcasters of America, who are expert phrase and
slogan makers, I urge to coin a national motto to keep constantly
before the American people as a reminder, every day, in every way,
of the necessity for national teamwork. In your bulletins, in
your advertising script, when you open your program and when you
sign off, let there come forth an urgent and effective appeal to
all Americans for national unity. " . . . .
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8/6/40
"In Europe, there may be a stigma attached to one*s
origin which may taint the life and business of a whole family,
even a whole people. Here, men are measured by their own conduct.
Each is free to live his own life in his own way so long as it does
not encroach upon the similar rights of others. While we may dial
our radio to any program anywhere in the world, others must deafen
their ears to the outside and listen only to the voice of self-
anointed masters. While we may think, write and say what we please,
the lives of others are circumscribed to the minutest detail.. . .
"We must therefore acquire national unity. We must
achieve without delay a cohesion into one pattern of all American
dreams and aspirations lest they be forever denied. I therefore
urge upon you the need for a revival of the spirit of American
unity and as broadcasters, to keep the ideal in the forefront in
all your radio activities .
"We must move closer and closer toward each other. We
must visit each other more frequently and exchange our goods more
freely. This is no time to think of bargains and profits. In the
world of today we in this continent must work together.
"Again, I turn to you radio broadcasters to translate
this ardent desire into a popular formula that will remind us every
day of our duty and responsibility .
"I appeal to you as radio broadcasters to put new life
and meaning into our loyalties - our loyalties to our home, to our
family, to our church, to our community, to our country, to extol
them before the youth of our country, to recall them to the minds
of our mature and our aged. "
XXXXXXXXXX
557 STATIONS AID DEFENSE SEARCH
Five hundred and fifty-seven broadcasting stations, an
increase of 184 over those heard from the week before,, have joined
together through the National Association of Broadcasters in radio’s
recently announced National Defense program, which seeks to locate
man power for the Government.
A minimum of 100,000 skilled workers represents the pre¬
sent requirements of the Army, Navy and other defense agencies for
which the U. S. Civil Service Commission seeks to procure workers.
XXXXXXXXXX
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8/6/40
WILLKIE SEEKS EQUAL RADIO TIME
Wendell L. Willkie will demand as much free radio time
as is accorded to President Roosevelt during the 1940 campaign, it
was learned at Des Moines, Iowa, last Saturday night where Mr.
Willkie had gone for a conference with Mid-Western Governors and
farm leaders.
Weighing statements of the President that his concern over
international developments would force him to remain close to the
Capital and confine his campaign pronouncements to press conferences
and radio addresses, leaders of the Willkie campaign told Inter¬
national News Service:
"If Mr. Roosevelt plans to carry on his campaign from the
White House, through fireside chats for which the radio chains
donate their facilities, Mr. Willkie will insist upon just as much
free time to place his message before the country.
"The radio industry is a public utility and Mr. Willkie
will insist that both major political parties be dealt with by the
radio chains on a basis of equality. If the Republican Party is
forced to pay for its time on the radio, there is no reason why the
Democratic Party should not do the same. "
The position was taken on the eve of the national conven¬
tion which opened in San Francisco on Sunday, of the National
Association of Broadcasters.
Already faced by a warning from the Senate Special Elec¬
tions Committee that plans are under way by which Nation-wide com¬
mercial .programs would be placed at the disposal of "certain candi¬
dates" in violation of the Hatch "clean politics" law, a spokesman
for the National Association of Broadcasters said:
"The radio industry will not lend itself to any attempt
to sidestep the Hatch Act or any other law. You can be sure that
the Code Committee of the Association, before our convention con¬
cludes, will adopt every possible safeguard to see that commercial
broadcasters do not use their programs for exploitation of any
candidates. It never has been done and it won't begin now."
Examination of the records of the radio chains showed
that the Republican Party spent $823,257 in the 1936 presidential
campaign while the Democrats spent $497,923.
XXXXXXXXXX
7
8/6/40
CAN PLAY RECORDS WITHOUT LICENSE COURT HOLDS
The National Association of Broadcasters won an outstand¬
ing victory for the broadcasting industry last week when the U. S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in New York decided that broadcasters have
the right to play phonograph records without a license.
Retaining special counsel for this test case, the Associa¬
tion went to bat for Station WNEW, New York City, and the industry
in a suit brought by the RCA Manufacturing Company, Inc. , and Paul
Whiteman.
Judge Learned Hand handed down the decision.
xxxxxxxx
CITIZENSHIP PROOF PUT OFF FOR 30 DAYS
The effective date of the Order adopted by the Federal
Communications Commission requiring that all commercial or amateur
radio operators produce proof of American citizenship has been
extended for one month from August 15th to September 15th. This
was due to the fact that radio operators asked so many questions
which required answering, that the Commission decided to give them
a little more time.
XXXXXXXXX
DuMONT MAKING U. S. ARMY TESTS
The Allen B. DuMont Laboratories at Passaic, N. J. , have
been granted special temporary authority to operate a 50 watt
transmitter on the old No. 1 channel in the Plattsburgh, N. Y.
area, in order to pick up signals from mobile transmitter W10XKT
and rebroadcast pictures in the area in connection with tests in
cooperation with the U. S. Army.
XXXXXXXXXX
Temporary authority not to exceed three months, has been
granted to install aeronautical radio station KBJS, located at
Bethel, Alaska, primarily for communication with aircraft flying
the Green Chain in Alaska. It will use the frequencies 2922,
5652.5, and 6590 kilocycles, with power of 50 watts, A3 emission.
XXXXXXXXXXX
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8/6/40
SARNOFF DENIES RCA BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS
Denying charges that two former United States Senators
were bribed to effect the postponement of a Radio Corporation of
America anti-trust suit in 1932 until after the new administration
came into power, David Samoff, President of the RCA, appearing
before the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee in Washington
(Tuesday) declared: "No payments were ever made by the RCA in
this or any other case. I deny all these allegations. "
"Why did you wait all this time to make this denial?"
Senator Tobey of New Hampshire asked.
"When Congressman McFarland originally made the charges
we offered to give him the facts. Mr. McFarland said we would
hear from him if he wanted them. He later repeated the charges
in Texas and on the air but we never heard from him. This is the
first Committee that has shown any interest in them. "
After being pressed by Senator Tobey to tell who the
Senators were who were alleged to have been bribed, Mr. Samoff
said: "I'll do it but remember I am only doing it because the
Senator has demanded that I do so, " Mr. Samoff then said the
Senators named were Senators Hastings of Delaware, and Moses, of
New Hampshire.
There was a dramatic ending to the day's sessions when
Senator Tobey first announced that E. 0. Kellar, supposed to be
one of the intermediaries in the alleged bribing, would testify.
Kellar, however, did not appear. Whereupon the Senator mad an
affidavit by Kellar making sensational charges against the RCA.
Mr. Sarnoff immediately denied these charges. Following this,
Senator Wheeler issued a summons for Kellar to appear before the
Committee the next day (Wednesday) , adding:
"If the charges against the RCA are proven to be untrue,
the man who has made them should be turned over to the Department
of Justice for investigation. "
XXXXXXXXXX
A New York organization has inquired of the Federal Com¬
munications Commission as to the number of regular program-broad¬
cast stations in the world. Commission records show that as of
December 1, 1939, there were 2,452 regular broadcast stations listed
throughout the world, of which number 314 were in the United States.
XXXXXXXXXX
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8/6/40
TRADE NOTES
WQXR in New York City will soon broadcast commercially
sponsored Associated Press news. The first A.P. sponsored broad¬
cast over an NBC station was last week by Station WENR in Chicago
sponsored by Morris B. Sachs, a local clothier.
In a recent FCC press release, entitled: "First Televi¬
sion Station for San Francisco Speeded; NBC and Don Lee to Use
New Television Channel No. 1" the visual power granted station
W6XA0 should have been shown as 1000 watts instead of 100 watts.
WRUW, World Wide Broadcasting Corp. , short-wave station
at Boston, has been granted a dismissal of its application for
modification of license to add frequency 6080 kilocycle to 11730,
15130 kilocycles, 20000 watts night, 20000 watts daytime, A3 emis¬
sion, unlimited time.
Jennings Pierce, Director of Education and Agriculture
for NBC's Western Division, San Francisco, is making an air tour
of Pacific Coast NBC stations. With him is Kenneth Gapen, Western
Radio Program Director for the U. S. Department of Agriculture.
H. G. Towlson, General Electric radio engineer, has been
named engineer in charge of radio transmitter operations at the
company's South Schenectady transmitting station, according to an
announcement made by R. S. Peare, Manager of General Electric
broadcasting.
In his column "Over the Coffee", a feature of the
Washington Post . Harlan Miller wrote :
"Radio-mogul Harry Butcher says if FM radio had come first,
then regular AM broadcasting, the kind we've had for years, would
have been hailed as the real miracle. "
Steps have been taken by Kenneth BerMLey, Washington's
NBC Manager, to inform patrons of Washington's outdoor Symphony
Orchesta held at the Watergate, about future concerts that may be
postponed because of rain. The information will be broadcast over
the radio one-half hour in advance of the scheduled starting time,
WRC being used on Sunday nights and WMAL on Wednesday nights. The
concerts have repeatedly been rained out; on the other hand others
have been successfully held in the face of doubtful weather, but
with the new system of an eleventh hour radio flash, everybody will
be kept informed as to whether or not a concert will be given.
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8/6/40
WMCA SEES NEWS IN ADVERTISING
Spreading to radio "PM's" (new newspaper in New York)
concent of reprinting advertising free of charge on the basis that
it is interesting news, the Warner Norge Company, Inc., distribu- V
tors of Farnsworth radios, has inaugurated over Station WMCA, New
York, a program entitled "Good News in Advertising".
In ad lib style Ken Farnsworth, who is not related to
the radio maker, will report on the outstanding ads appearing in
the afternoon papers of the same day and those scheduled for the
following morning's papers. Newspaper, advertiser and price as
well as all salient advertised goods will be broadcast, Farnsworth
stating that "all I know is what I read in the ads". The Warner
Norge contract is for an indefinite period.
The radio innovation will be watched with interest, it is
expected, inasmuch as radio stations are beginning a determined
drive to get department store accounts, which have been perennial
newspaper advertisers. It will probably be possible for stores
to check whether items mentioned on the program outpull other
goods advertised in the dailies.
Radio advertisers and their agencies have been asked by
the National Association to join the broadcasting industry in its
latest battle with the American Society of Composers, a struggle
which may cut off from the networks after January 1 most of the
music now familiar to radio listeners.
XXXXXXXXXX
JULY BILLINGS UP SHARPLY
Gross billings for time on the Columbia Network - prior
to deductions for agency commissions and time discounts to spon¬
sors - totaled $3,067,870 during July, 1940. The July figure
brings the seven-month cumulative total for 1940 to $23,525,242.
The National Broadcasting Company billings totaled
$3,830,438, up 16.7 percent over last year. Cumulative billings
for the first seven months amounted to $28,390,314, a gain of 9.7
percent over the like period of 1939.
Mutual Broadcasting System billings amounted to $235,182,
an increase of 8.6 percent. For the year to date they were
$2,266,505, a gain of 23.1 percent.
XXXXXXXXXX
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b/b/40
ZENITH SALES EXECUTIVE GOES TO WIN CHARGER
Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. , President of the Zenith
Radio Corporation, Chicago, has announced the appointment of
Robert F. Weinig as Vice President and General Manager of its
subsidiary, the Wincharger Corporation in Sioux City, Iowa. Mr.
Weinig has been in charge of farm radio sales for Zenith. He is
most enthusiastic about what he believes to be the tremendous farm
market possibilities of Wincharger.
Plans for further developments in the farm electric field
are now being carried on in Winchargers* experimental laboratory
under the guidance of John and Gerhardt Albers - the two Iowa
farm boys who founded the Wincharger Corporation.
In commention on his connection, Mr. Weinig stated,
"Electricity is the finest investment a farmer can make from the
standpoint of contributing to the comfort, convenience, health and
happiness of his entire family. Electricity, generated by Win¬
charger, is the most economical form of electricity available to
the farmer today for there is 'no tax on the free wind'. Wincharger
electricity also has a strong appeal to the farmer who prefers to
own and operate his own power plant in preference to renting
electric service from an outside source". "
XXXXXXXXXXXX
RCA CLEARS $3,728,621
Following the meeting of the Board of Directors of the
Radio Corporation of America last Friday, David Sarnoff, President
of the company, announced that the following dividends had been
declare d:
On the outstanding shares of $3.50 Cumulative Con¬
vertible First Preferred stock, 87-1/2^ per share, for the period
from July 1, 1940 to September 30, 1940, payable in cash on
October 1, 1940, to the holders of record of such stock at the
close of business September 6, 1940.
On the outstanding shares of "B" Preferred stock, $1.25
per share, for the period from July 1, 1940, to September 30, 1940,
payable in cash on October 1, 1940, to the holders of record of
such stock at the close of business September 6, 1940.
Mr. Sarnoff also released for publication the consolidated
statement of income of the Radio Corporation of America and sub¬
sidiaries for the second quarter of 1940 and the first six months
of the year, with comparative figures for the corresponding periods
of 1939. The report showed a net income of $3,728,621 after all
operating expenses, taxes, interest, depreciation and other charges.
The net was equal, after full preferred dividend requirements to
15 cents each on the corporation's 13,881,016 shares of common
stock outstanding. It compares with a net of $2,172,201, or 4 cents
a common share, in the first half of 1939.
Gross operating income for the six months aggregated
$56,559,704, compared with $48,041,640 last year, an increase of
$8, 518, 064.
XXXXXXXX
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XI
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF AUGUST 9, 1940
(Sarnoff Denies Using Roosevelt Friendship In RCA Deal . 2
RCA Head Gives Schuette Clean Bill . 3
FDR Congratulates ASCAP On Its Anniversary . . . 6
More New Television Stations . 7
RCA Disclosures Eclipse Brown Hearing . 8
Willkie Time Promised . 10
Mrs. McDonald Proves A Talented Composer . . . 11
More Power For U. S. Short-Wave Stations . 11
Seebach Elected To WOR Board . 12
Gen. Drum Gets Two-Way Communication Car . 12
McCosker To Visit Vallee During Vacation . 12
Cost WLW $16,000 To Cover Conventions . 12
No. 1257
SARNOFF DENIES USING- ROOSEVELT FRIENDSHIP IN RCA DEAL
There was an immediate and sharp denial by David Sarnoff,
President of the Radio Corporation of America, that he had said
in 1932 that if he could delay prosecution of a Government anti¬
trust case against the RCA until after President Roosevelt's in¬
auguration, he would have no difficulty in dealing with Mr.
Roosevelt.
wIt is an unadulterated falsehood", Mr. Sarnoff declared,
"because I did not see President Roosevelt until about a year after
his inauguration. I never discussed the case with him. I think,
therefore, that it is very unfortunate and unfair that the Presi¬
dent's name has been dragged into this case. "
The Roosevelt allegation was made before the Senate Com¬
mittee on Interstate Commerce considering the nomination of Thad H.
Brown to succeed himself as a member of the Federal Communications
Commission. It came in an affidavit signed by E. 0. Keller, sup¬
posed to be an intermediary for the RCA in the postponement of the
case. The affidavit was introduced in evidence by Senator Charles
W. Tobey (R. ), of New Hampshire. It had to do with a journey
which Mr. Sarnoff, a.ccompanied by several others made to Concord,
N.H. , to seek the advice of Senator G-eorge Moses, of New Hampshire,
with regard to getting a month's continuance of the anti-trust
case.
"On my boat trip with Mr. Sarnoff, from New York to
Boston", the affidavit of Keller set forth, "Mr. Sarnoff informed
me that he and President Roosevelt had been very close friends
since the inception of radio, and that Mr. Roosevelt had said to
him, 'Dave, you are the father of radio but when I was Assistant
Secretary of the Navy, I mothered it for you', and that he believed
Mr. Roosevelt would be elected in November and that if he were able
to postpone this case until after the Roosevelt inauguration that
he would have no trouble in dealing with Mr. Roosevelt personally. "
Although Keller was said to have been continuously in
attendance at the Senate hearings and was to have testified the
day Senator Tobey introduced the affidavit, he failed to appear.
Senator Burton K. Wheeler ( D) , of Montana, Chairman of the Committee,
ordered the Serge ant- At- Arms to issue a subpena for him.
There was a sensational conclusion to Keller's testimony
two days later when the fact was brought out that he had been in¬
dicted for forgery in 1931, had pleaded guilty to the charge, and
had been given a suspended sentence of 00 days.
XXXXXXXXXX
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8/9/40
RCA HEAD GIVES SCHUETTE CLEM BILL
In an exchange with Senator Tobey, of New Hampshire, at
the Thad Brown hearing, David Sarnoff, President of the Radio
Corporation of America, defended the employment of Oswald F.
Schuette, who in the old days bitterly fought the Radio Corporation
but was subsequently employed by them. The testimony follows:
Senator Tobey - Is it not true that Mr. Schuette, in 1927, was
publicity agent for the Radio Protective Association?
Mr. Sarnoff - I think that is right.
Senator Tobey - He set up headquarters in Washington representing
the independents?
Mr. Sarnoff - Yes.
Senator Tobey - He issued mime o gran he d statements to the newspapers
attacking R. C.A. , calling it part of the radio
trust, and referring to it as a patent racket. He
was extremely active before this Senate Interstate
Commerce Committee and the House Committee on Mer¬
chant Marine and Fisheries in making attacks on the
radio trust and in getting Senator Dill and others
to get after the Department of Justice to investi¬
gate the so-called radio trust and to bring action
under the anti-trust acts against R. C.A. and others.
Is not that true?
Mr. Sarnoff. - That is true; yes.
Senator Tobey - Indeed, so effective were his efforts that at ex¬
tended hearings held before the Senate Committee on
Interstate Commerce, Colonel Manton Davis, Vice
President and General Attorney of R. C.A. in 1929,
attacked him before this committee in the following
terms (reading):
"If the Committee will examine Mr. Oswald F.
Schuette under oath and will compel him to disclose
the names of each of those who have supported his
activities and are supporting them, together with
the contribution made and being paid by each, I
think you will uncover one of those lobbies against
which official Washington has so often", and so
forth.
And on page 203 he said (reading further):
"Before the House Committee on Merchant Marine
and Fisheries * * * he was appeared and attacked the
R. C.A. and its associated organizations , and always
the burden of his story has been that the funda¬
mental agreements underlying the complete original
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Senator Tobey
(Cont ’ d)
Mr. Sarnoff
Senator Tobey
Mr. Sarnoff
Senator Tobey
Mr. Sarnoff ■
set-up were violations of the anti-monopoly laws
and would result in prosecution by the Government
of the United States for violation of those laws
* * * *. Mr. Schuette has continued without ceas¬
ing to repeat the same accusations to Congressional
committees, Senators and Congressmen and other
Government officials, and whenever he could, to the
Federal Radio Commission * * *. They denounce and
they accuse to build a smoke screen behind which to
hide their own wrongdoings. "
His efforts and accusations were intensified in May
of 1930 when R. C. A. and General Electric and
Westinghouse entered into the patent pooling agree¬
ments which were the subject of the anti-trust
proceedings which you, Mr. Sarnoff, were so anxious
to have postponed, and which have been referred to
this morning.
It has been mentioned by the chairman of this com¬
mittee, Senator Wheeler, that Mr. Schuette suddenly
ceased his attacks on R. C. A. and its patent pooling
agreements and its monopolistic activities. Do you
know Mr. Oswald Schuette?
Yes.
Is not the whole answer to the thing that R. C. A.
bought him off by giving him a job in R. C.A. at a
satisfactory salary?
It is not only not the whole answer, but it is not
even a part of the answer.
One day he was storming against R. C.A. , and then he
was employed by them another day.
There is nothing strange or mysterious about that.
If you want to know about that, I will tell you.
It is no more mysterious than when a lawyer handles
a case against you and handles it effectively and
wins. You might find at some later time that it is
a good thing to employ that lawyer on your side
because he is a good lawyer.
Mr. Schuette had sincerely believed that the Radio
Corporation was in violation of the anti-trust laws.
He was also making a living by representing those
who shared his belief. He was a, very effective
gentleman. He had made a study of the whole radio
art and industry, and in the course of the prepara¬
tion of the case by the Department of Justice Judge
Olney came to rely on him very much. I had never
met Mr. Schuette until the negotiations with the
Department of Justice had reached their end or were
- 4 -
8/9/40
Mr. Sarnoff
(Cont1 d)
Senator Tobey
Mr. Sarnoff
Senator Tobey
Mr. Sarnoff
Senator Tobey
Mr. Sarnoff
Senator Tobey
Mr. Sarnoff
Senator Tobey
almost near their end, when Judge Olney had brought
him in, as a matter of fact, to advise him. I
formed a very favorable opinion of this gentleman's
capacity. When the consent decree was given and
the General Electric and the Westinghouse were out,
the Radio Corporation was alone and it had to
establish itself in the public mind, with the stock¬
holders, with organizations and with others as a
company that was able to do its job and render the
service for which it had been organized. I felt
that Mr. Schuette would be of great service to the
company in strengthening the organization. I have
never objected to those who have been opposed to
the organization coming in and learning about it,
because there are no secrets, nothing to hide. I
might say to you quite frankly that there were some
in the organization that had not as much affection
for Mr. Schuette as I had. I had looked at the
matter entirely objectively. Here was a man who did
a good job. He had the confidence of the licensees
because he had represented them. One of the import¬
ant elements of revenue to the Radio Corporation was
the matter of royalties from the licensees. So I
invited Mr. Schuette to come in and learn about our
business and to help us with our problems and under¬
stand what we were seeking to do, particularly under
the new set-up. It was now conforming to the con¬
sent decree, to the views of the Government and the
views which he himself has urged. He came in as a
regular employee. There was no secret about it. He
has been paid. He has been sent to see customers
and licensees. He is a representative of the Cor¬
poration. He has participated in our conferences.
He is now a trusted member of the organization.
And he is as strong pro-R. C.A. as he was against it
be fore ?
Yes.
And like Saul of Tarsus, he saw the light and was
convinced?
That often happens to men who are wrong.
But there was a quid pro quo, a retainer?
No sir.
He was hired by R. C. A. ?
Yes.
And after that his anger and antagonism went out
the window?
1 f
I't
Mr. Sarnoff
No. There was no anger. The Corporation was
conformed to a net set-up. He was the victor in
the set-up. There is no reason why he should
have been angry. He should have been happy.
How much do you pay Mr. Schuette?
I think he receives a regular salary of $20,000
a year.
Do you pay him anything in addition to that?
Nothing, except his expenses.
I mean, anything else in the way of a fee.
No; no fee. That is his salary, $20,000 a year.
As a matter of fact, he is helping develop the
patent department. He has been very helpful in
connection with the development of international
short wave broadcasting. It never occurred to me
that there was anything wrong in hiring a man that
happened to be opposed to us. If you did that
you would never hire a lawyer who has been on the
other side.
XXXXXXXX
FDR CONGRATULATES ASCAP ON ITS ANNIVERSARY
Congratulating ASCAP on its 25th Anniversary, President
Roosevelt wrote the following letter to Gene Buck, President of
the Society:
"Dear Gene:
"I have learned with much interest that the American
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is about to celebrate
its twenty-fifth anniversary. May I be among those to congratulate
you on this very happy and significant event.
"The importance and value of music to the culture, morale
and entertainment of the nation were fittingly recognized by the
government in the issuance of five special postage stamps honoring
outstanding composers — Victor Herbert, John Philip Sousa, Ethel-
bert Nevin, Stephen Collins Foster and Edward MacDowell - in the
famous Americans stamp series.
"Your Society, in its highly worthwhile work of giving
protection and encouragement to our creators of music, can, I
sincerely believe, play an important part in advancing American
leadership in the field of music. In extending hearty greetings
may I express the hope that your Society will have continued suc¬
cess in such a laudable objective.
"With all good wishes,
Very sincerely yours, "
XXXXXXXXXX -6-
Senator Wheeler -
Mr. Sarnoff
Senator Wheeler -
Mr. Sarnoff
Senator Wheeler -
Mr. Sarnoff
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8/9/40
MORE NEW TELEVISION STATIONS
Additional applications have been granted by the Federal
Communications Commission for the construction of new television
stations. These included one to the National Broadcasting Co. ,
Washington, D. , to operate on frequencies of 60,000-66,000 (Channel
No. 2), A3 and A5 emission, and another to the NBC in Philadelphia
to operate on frequencies of 102,000-108,000 kc. (Channel No. 7).
Both stations are 1 kilowatt power aural and visual. It is explain¬
ed that both are on an experimental basis and that the Philadelphia
station application is granted in lieu of the tentative grant for
a television station in Chicago, as it appears that the Philadelphia
station will make possible a more concentrated study of television
systems by the entire RCA research organization.
Balaban & Katz, Corp. , has been granted a construction
permit to erect a new television broadcast station in Chicago on
the frequencies of 60,000-66,000 (Chanel No. 2) on an experimental
basis with power of 1 kilowatt aural and visual, A3 and A5 emission.
The Television Productions, Inc. , of Los Angeles has been
authorized to erect a new station to use frequencies 78,000-84,000
kc. (Channel No. 4) on an experimental basis, 1 kilowatt power,
aural and visual.
The Zenith Radio Corp. , Chicago, has been granted a
modification of its television station license on Channel No. 1
(50,000- 56,000 kc. ) on the condition that the Zenith Station W9XZV
be used for carrying on research, which covers engineering experi¬
mentation tending to develop uniform transmission standards of
acceptable technical quality, and for carrying on equipment tests,
training of technical personnel, and experimental programs - the
license otherwise to remain the same.
The Commission, having considered also the applications
of the RCA Manufacturing Co. , Inc. , for modification of license
requesting Channel No. 5 for its television broadcast station
W3XEP, and that of the Philco Radio and Television Corporation, as
amended, for modification of its license, requesting Channel No. 3
for its television broadcast station W3XE, ordered that the appli¬
cations be granted upon the express condition that Station W3XEP
and Station W3XE be used for carrying on research, which covers
engineering experimentation tending to develop uniform transmission
standards of acceptable technical quality, and for carrying on
equipment tests, training of technical personnel. No public pro¬
gram service was authorized and the licenses otherwise remain the
same .
It was further ordered by the Commission that their
Order No. 69 cancelling the licenses of Stations W9XZV, W3XEP and
W3XE effective January 1, 1941, in order to provide for the reallo¬
cation of frequencies set forth in the Commission's Order No. 67 be
amended to exclude from its terms the licenses as modified for these
television broadcast stations.
XXXXXXXX
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RCA DISCLOSURES ECLIPSE BROWN HEARING
What started out to be an inquiry by the Senate Inter¬
state Commerce Committee into the qualifications of Col. Thad H.
Brown to succeed himself as a member of the Federal Communications
Commission almost became, through sensational charges made against
the Radio Corporation of America, an investigation of the entire
radio industry. And may yet.
The RCA got into the case by Senator Charles W. To bey,
Republican, of New Hampshire, asking Thad Brown about the allega¬
tion that the Radio Corporation eight years ago had bribed the then
U. S. Senators George H. Moses, of New Hampshire, and Daniel 0.
Hastings, of Delaware, and Harry C. Mahaffy, Jr., Clerk of the
Federal District Court at Wilmington, to get an RCA anti-trust case
postponed. Colonel Brown said he had. never heard of it. Senator
Tobey in wrath said that the story had been ’’kicking around the
Capitol for years, that everybody knew about it”, and if Brown,
who had previously been characterized by Senator Wheeler, of
Montana, Chairman of the Committee, as ’’dumb”, had gone into it
or even heard of it he was not fit to serve as a Federal Communica¬
tions Commissioner.
Whereupon Senator Tobey started in on a one-man investi¬
gation of the old RCA case the results of which completely eclipsed
the Thad Brown investigation. Brown thereafter sat over in a corner
almost a forgotten man and one day didn't even attend the sessions.
Highlights of the Senate hearings extending over the
better part of a week included:
Testimony of David Sarnoff, President of the Radio Corpor¬
ation of America denying that the RCA paid money to any Senators
or any other Government official to effect a postponement of its
Government suit in 1932. Mr. Sarnoff told of a trip to Concord,
N.H. to see Senator Moses, then Republican leader in the Senate. He
said he did not ask Senator Moses to do anything, he merely sought
his advice.
During the conference with Senator Moses, Mr. Sarnoff said,
there was no discussion of money and there was no payment of money.
After the Senator retired from the Senate, he said he met him at a
Gridiron dinner in Washington. Upon inquiry as to what he was doing,
the Senator said that he was going to visit the Balkans, and Mr.
Sarnoff asked him if he would undertake to make an economic survey
there for the RCA and the Senator agreed and did make the survey,
covering a period of six months, sending him a bill for $4,000,
which was raid. Later there was another six months’ service at
$4,000.
Robert D. O' Callaghan, RCA counsel in the Moses-Hastings
case, declined at first to testify standing on his lawyer client
confidential status, but when the Radio Corporation counsel waived
this right, he further refused on the ground that what he said
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8/9/40
might tend "to incriminate or degrade him". Senator Wheeler never¬
theless persuaded him to testify. O’ Callaghan declared that two,
possibly three members of a firm of Washington real estate brokers,
received from $1,200 to $1,500 each because of threats to charge
publicly that the RCA had hired the Senators.
Mr. O' Callaghan1 s testimony referred in part to an affi¬
davit submitted to the Committee by E. 0. Keller, a "contact" man,
which asserted that Messrs. Moses and Hastings each received $5,000
for their aid in getting the trial postponed; that H. C. Mahaffy,Jr.
Clerk of the Federal District Court before which the case was pend¬
ing, got $15,000 for his aid in the matter, and that his brother
a year later got a $50,000 fee from the RCA for some minor legal
activities for the corporation.
Mr. Keller testified that Senator Hastings had been res¬
ponsible for the appointment of Federal Judge John P. Nields, jur¬
ist before whom the RCA case was pending in Wilmington. Mr.
Mahaffy denied receiving any money. He told, however, of Senator
Hastings inviting him to New York for a conference.
A few days later, Mahaffy continued, he (Mahaffy)
sent out notices of postponement because "Judge Nields needed a
rest". The judge, he said, was suffering from a bad heart condition
and a severe cold. The clerk said the postponement notices had been
sent out without any formal application for delay, having been
filed with the court. He said he had discussed the postponement
with the judge, but did not inform the latter about his visit with
Mr. Hastings in New York. Mr. Keller testified that Mr. Moses had
conferred with Lawrence Richey, secretary to President Hoover. Mr.
Keller said Mr. Moses had informed him President Hoover and Attorney
General Mitchell had refused to move for any postponement of the
case at the time.
C. Edward Duffy, a former law partner of ex-Senator Hast¬
ings of Delaware, informed the Committee that Mr. Hastings told him
he had to pay the clerk Mahaffy of the Federal District Court at
Wilmington $2,500 to obtain the 1932 postponement of trial of the
anti-trust suit against the RCA, a postponement which led to a con¬
sent decree ending the case.
For his services in the matter, it was testified, Mr.
Hastings, then a member of the Senate, received $7,500 in all,
although he never filed a motion for postponement and was engaged in
the matter only three or four days. Senator Hastings characterized
as "a deliberate lie" the fact that he had paid Mahaffy $2,500.
His only activity recorded in the testimony was to ask
the clerk Mahaffy to come to New York City and inform him of the
state of the court’s docket and how to go about applying for the
postponement.
When E. 0. Keller, contact man, who had made serious
charges against the RCA, took the witness stand, Mr. Sarnoff changed
to a seat across the room where he could face the witness. "I
9
8/9/40
object to Mr. Sarnoff changing his seat”, Senator Tobey shouted.
"What difference could that make?” Senator Wheeler asked. "Might
make a lot - after the signals I’ve seen exchanged and other
things that have gone on in the room since this hearing started”.
So Mr. Sarnoff returned to his old seat behind the witness.
After hearing the testimony of several real estate brokers,
Senator Wheeler exclaimed "Why if the RCA wanted a postponement in
a U. S. Court did they have to go about getting it through ’real
estate brokers’ ? There are more shakedown artists in this town
than any place I know. ” Again referring to the intermediaries
Senator Wheeler said:
"What has been recorded here”, he added, "should be a les¬
son to the RCA and every other great corporation against dealing
with the scum around Washington who claim to have influence. It’s
getting so a Senator cannot even say hello to a person without hav¬
ing him go out and sell his alleged influence with him to some
corporation with a problem which it doesn't know enough to try to
settle in a legitimate manner, "
XXXXXXXXXX
will:: is tiie promised
In response to the demand of Wendell Willkie that he
receive like treatment, the National Association of Broadcasters
at their convention in San Francisco decided that if President
Roosevelt used his "fireside chat” radio technique as a means for
electioneering the broadcasters will give equal free time to rival
candidates.
The burden of proof, however, would fall upon the opposi¬
tion parties to show that the President had utilized his fireside
talks for campaigning.
The Association's Board of Directors extended the con¬
tract of their President, Neville Miller of Washington, for one
year. It was understood that the extension provided a substantial
increase in salary. The former contract was to have expired in 1941.
Mark Ethridge, WHAS; Harold Hough, WBAP; George W. Norton,
WAVE; Don Searle, KOIL; Harry R. Spence, KXRO; John Elmer, WCBM;
Edward Klauber, CBS; Fred Weber, MBS, and Frank M. Russell, NBC,
were elected to the Board.
Unanimous approval of the BMI program for defeating the
ASCAP music monopoly was voted by shouting delegates at what was
said to be one of the most enthusiastic sessions in NAB convention
history. Theodore Streibert, Vice President of the Mutual Broad¬
casting System, touched off one of the several demonstrations at
the session when he announced that none of the principal key sta¬
tions of that network intended to use ASCAP music after next
December 31.
XX-XXXXXXXX
- 10 -
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8/9/40
mrs. McDonald proves a talented composer
A composition entitled w Cane ion* by Inez Riddle McDonald
was heard in the first of a series of all-orchestral programs during
August conducted by Alfred Wallenstein in the Voice of Firestone
Hour broadcast on Monday evening, August 5th, over the Red NBC
coast-to-coast network.
In the lilting rhythm of a Tango or Habanera, this type
of composition may have suggested itself to Mrs. McDonald during
her cruises in the Caribbean and to Central America. If sc, she
has caught the true grace and charm of such music. It is skill¬
fully orchestrated and should find a place in the repertoire of
other fine orchestras.
Mrs. McDonald is the wife of Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. ,
of the Zenith Radio Corporation, Chicago. Commander and Mrs.
McDonald are on their yacht, the "Mizpah" in Georgian Bay, Canada,
where no doubt they had the pleasure of listening to the broadcast.
xxxxxxxxx
MORE POWER FOR U.S. SHORT-WAVE STATIONS
Five additional U. S. international broadcast stations have
been authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to in¬
crease power to 50 kilowatts. This makes nine such stations which
are now using or are authorized to use the maximum power deemed by
Commission rules necessary for satisfactory international service.
The five stations just granted construction permits for
this purpose are National Broadcasting Company’s stations WRCA and
WNBI at Bound Brook, N.J.; Columbia Broadcasting System’s Station
ICBK near Wayne, N. J. ; and General Electric Company's Station WGEA,
at Schenectady, N.Y. , and KGEI at San Francisco.
The National Broadcasting Company's stations had been
using 35 kilowatts, the Columbia Broadcasting System’s station 10
kilowatts, the General Electric Company’s Schenectady station 25
kilowatts and its San Francisco station 20 kilowatts. WRCA oper¬
ates on 9670 and 17780 kilocycles; WMBI on 6100 and 21630 kilo¬
cycles; WCBX on 6120, 6170, 9650, 11830, 15270, 17830 and 21570
kilocycles; WGEA on 6190, 9550, 15330, 21500 and 21590 kilocycles,
(6190 and 21590 frequencies having just been authorized), and KGEI
on 6190, 9530 and 15330 kilocycles.
Two stations were previously authorized to go to 50 kilo¬
watts - Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Station WPIT,
which is moving to Hull, Mass. , and World Wide Broadcasting Corp¬
oration' s WRUL, at Scituate, Mass. Two stations are already comply¬
ing with the minimum power requirement - General Electric Company's
Station WGEO, South Schenectady, N.Y., 100 kilowatts, and Crosley
Corporation's Station WLWO, Mason, Ohio, 50 kilowatts. The Crosley
station has just been granted special experimental authorization
to operate a 1 KW transmitter on frequency 6080 kilocycles, for
identification only.
XXXXXXXXX -11-
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8/9/40
SEEBACH ELECTED TO WOR BOARD
Julius F. Seebach, Jr. , Vice-President of WOR in Charge
of Programs and Director of Program Operations for the station since
1935, was elected a member of the Board of Directors of WOR, it was
announced by Alfred J. McCosker, President of WOR.
Mr. Seebach1 s career in the broadcasting world embraces
a period of 14 years, beginning in 1925 when he assumed a post as
announcer with WOR, rapidly advancing to Manager of Evening Pro¬
grams. In January, 1928, he joined the Columbia Broadcasting System
as Program Production Manager, remaining with that network until
1935 when he resigned his position as Director of all program
operations to return to WOR in a similar capacity.
XXXXXXXXXX
GEN. DRUM GETS TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION CAR
The automobile of Lieut. Gen. Hugh A. Drum, commanding
the First Army, is being equipped with two-way ultra-high-frequency
radio telephone equipment, which will enable General Drum to talk
from his moving car to any command post in the 1500- square mile New
York up-state maneuvre area, or by radio and then by telephone land
line to Army posts in New York or Washington.
The Army also is trying out twenty-eight of the new fre¬
quency modulation radio sets, which will be used to equip vehicles
in the three corps and Army. It is hoped that the new static-free
sets will improve Army communications.
XXXXXXXX
McCOSKER TO VISIT VALLEE DURING VACATION
When Alfred J. McCosker, President of WOR and Chairman of
the Board of the Mutual Broadcasting System, leaves for a vacation
Monday, August 12, he will visit with Rudy Vallee at the latter’s
lodge on Lake Kezar, Maine. He will also take a motor trip through
eastern Canada with his family, and will be away for three weeks.
XXXXXXXXXX
COST WLW $16,000 TO COVER CONVENTIONS
WLW’s bill for special coverage on the Republican and
Democratic national conventions, plus refunds to advertisers for
cancelled programs, ran around $16,000. The biggest item was
57,322.80 for cancellation of NBC network and local accounts during
the Republican convention in Philadelphia.. Cost of having a six-
man staff and special lines for that session was $2,160.
For the Democratic convention in Chicago, Crosley’s 50,000
watter refunded $4,329.72 for lost time on commercials and the
other expense was $2,250.
XXXXXXXXX
- 12 -
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// Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
y
W.T!!W! 00, K
LESAL DEPARTMENT
I ^AbG 14 1940 “; i
*r M I ' ' . P J®
INDEX TO ISSUE OF AUGUST 13, 1940
U1I1A1 ' 1 ‘ 1 1
4
1940
Fly .
. 2
War .
. 3
Netherlands Supply Cuban Radio Market Despite War . 3
Broadcasters’ Idea To Terrorize, Says ASCAP . 4
Thad Brown Hearings C-o Into Second Month . 6
FCC Meets But Not Much Doing . .
Germans Schedule New War Superhet .
Now 45,000,000 Sets InU.S . 9
Ever Hear Of Radioville? . 9
Trade Notes . 10
Station Bars Nazi Broadcast . 11
Willkie Quick On The Radio Trigger . 12
No. 1257
-A
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August 13, 1940.
RADIO USED IMPROPERLY POLITICALLY FAILS, SAYS FLY
Somewhat overshadowed by the bricks the Broadcasters were
shying at the Composers and vice versa was the advice Chairman James
Lawrence Fly, of the Federal Communications Commission, gave to the
National Association of Broadcasters at San Francisco last week.
"The broadcaster owes to the public whose facility he
occupies - and to the democracy he is bound to preserve - the in¬
escapable duty of full and fair reporting, balanced treatment,
and honest and impartial comment on all facts and information of
public concern; and adequate coverage on all public issues by two-
sided discussions and equality of facility and representation",
Chairman Fly declared in an address, the full text of which has
just reached Washington. "The responsibility for this service rests
with the licensee. It is inconceivable that control of the radio
as an instrument of freedom should be delegated to any special in¬
terest with the liberty to control news, information and comment
services. So soon as this service is rendered on behalf of a
special interest or political party the radio ceases its most
important function in the public interest. "
Whereupon Mr. Fly took quite a wallop at the newspapers,
saying:
"Broadcasting is all the more important in places where
the other vital source of public information and opinion has on
occasion utilized its basic freedom to promote its own or other
special interests and causes. In the press we have long respected
the traditional role of the editorial, however much we might deplore
it in the radio, yet one cannot but view with concern the instances
where 'News' is handled in such manner as to give the public what
the newspaper owner, in the light of his interest, wants the public
to receive.
"'News' can be colored. Headlines can be slanted. Spac¬
ing can be contracted or expanded; emphasis supplied or extracted by
artful placing; important events or responsible views can be over¬
looked, yet John Doe can send a telegram and become a national
character overnight. All this may appear momentarily to be good
business; but it would not be democracy. It would overlook the
real function of our basic freedom; and we should have an instru¬
ment of freedom devouring itself and the democratic structure which
nourished it. "
Expressing the fullest future confidence in radio, Mr.
Fly handed broadcasting this bouquet:
...
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"Let me not be deemed to criticize the American system
of broadcasting. I am here to praise it. These are trying times
and I have thought it beneficial frankly to discuss the great
principle. Frankness is essential in these discussions, and those
which I hope will follow on other problems of mutual concern. You
will know that I am proud to observe the great public service ren¬
dered by the broadcasters in the midst of a tremendous conflict.
"Their general news, informational and commenting ser¬
vice have been of a high order. News has been searched out and
brought to us from the four corners of the earth. The networks
have rendered particularly valuable public service in this regard.
And so have the many broadcasters moved across a vast field of
public service with creditable results. I face the future with
confidence in radio and believing in it as a great and permanent
institution. There can be no real fear that, conscious of your
great privilege and its attendant responsibility, you would ever
let the torch fall. "
XXXXXXXXX
NETHERLANDS SUPPLY CUBAN RADIO MARKET DESPITE WAR
Imports of sets to Cuba from the Netherlands continued
to be received, according to the American Consulate General in
Havana, during recent weeks, these shipments arriving from Mexico
and the Netherlands West Indies, in which areas considerable stocks
of sets had apparently been maintained in anticipation of diffi¬
culties that might arise in receiving shipments from the Netherlands.
Collections are not being received as satisfactorily
as was the case last year, or earlier this year and more care is
being used in making installment sales.
Imports of radio sets by Cuba during the first 6 months
of 1940, about 30 percent over the year before, numbered 11,106
units of all makes valued at $186,583, as compared with 8,310
units valued at $158,809 imported in the corresponding period of
1939.
Entries of Netherlands sets during the first half of this
year totaled 1,222 units valued at $17,140 as compared with 748
sets valued at $13,099 received during the first 6 months of last
year.
XXXXXXXXX
Samuel R. Zack, Director of WMCA’s "Labor Arbitration"
program is one of New York’s first arbitrators having settled
labor disputes in Brooklyn back in 1917 before the existence of
any labor relations legislation. At that time he was Sales Manager
for a large manufacturing concern and his interest in arbitration
developed as a result of a tremendous turn-over in labor due to
misunderstandings.
XXXXXXXX
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BROADCASTERS' IDEA TO TERRORIZE, SAYS ASCAP
Whether it will be a NAB musical blackout or an ASCAP
blitzkreig remains to be seen but in a sizzling White Paper just
delivered to the advertisers of the country signed by Gene Buck -
but to the eye of this writer also showing signs of the fine
Italian hand of Claude Mills - the object of the whole thing is
said to be an attempt to throw a terrible scare into the Composers.
"May we point out that Broadcast Music, Inc. , which the
networks announce will be made use of as their principal instru¬
mentality through which an adequate supply of music will be made
available after the announced boycott of ASCAP music is put into
effect, is the wholly owned creature of the broadcasters, and that
a majority of its stock is owned by the two networks", Mr. Buck
says in addressing the advertisers who pay the radio bills. "It
purposes, according to its public announcements, to create between
now and January first, from the offerings of amateur song writers
and special arrangements which it will make of music in the public
domain, a repertoire sufficient for the needs of broadcasting, or
at least to make broadcasting 'less dependent upon ASCAP music'.
"Something less than a majority of the broadcasters have
committed themselves to an investment of something over a million
dollars in this activity, and they are presently endeavoring to
interest the broadcasters in investing something like four million
dollars in a group of publishers which have heretofore been members
of ASCAP, so that their respective catalogs may be added to the
BMI repertoire. Of course, the whole idea is to terrorize and
intimidate ASCAP, but if it is of any comfort or usefulness to
those who are sponsoring this movement to know that it entirely
fails in the slightest degree to accomplish that objective, we
would like to make that statement here and now. We wish the BMI
well. We earnestly hope that it discovers many hundreds, even
thousands, of desirable songs, and we are indeed glad that there
has been created a responsible source to which the amateur writers
may go with their material and hope to have it published. "
Taking a vicious lunge at the chains, Mr. Buck declares:
"ASCAP is not in the slightest concerned at the bombastic
edicts being presently issued by the two chains, in which it is
very noticeable that the overwhelming majority of independent and
individual stations do not join. It is apparent that the chains,
drunk with power, assuming to speak for the independents, intend
to dictate what copy an agency will use in the space it buys on
the blank white pages of radio .
"We are amazed at the manifestation of a degree of
censorious conceit such as would prompt these two great and over¬
powering radio groups to believe for a moment that they are going
to tell Damrosch, Whiteman, Waring, Lombardo, or Black what music
to play. By what process of loose reasoning do these radio rajahs
deduce that they will tell Lucky Strike, Cities Service, Maxwell
4
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8/13/40
House Coffee, or their advertising agencies, who have purchased
'time on the air', of what musical content their programs shall
be made? ....
"Of course, it is all an absurdity. . . . Nothing of the
sort is going to happen. ASCAP music will be 'on the air' just
as frequently as it is now.
"In the meantime, great harm may be done. It will be
interesting to observe the development of this controversy. Assum¬
ing the Government is equally as interested in violations of the
law by others as if alleged to be by ASCAP, what will it think of
a conspiracy by the broadcasters, advertising agencies, and per¬
forming artists, in a concerted action to boycott the music of
the ASCAP repertoire? We think the Government may be intensely
interested to note this effort to prohibit the performance of such
music by corporations which own booking offices, phonograph record
factories, and motion picture producing units. "
Prophesying huge damage suits if the Broadcasters win,
Mr. Buck concludes:
"If the effort should by some fantastic process become
successful, we imagine damages will lie against those responsible
in sums that will far transcend any which they ever would have
paid for performing rights fees. Let every thinking man in a posi¬
tion of responsibility carefully consider the possible ultimate
result of a complete and unqualified success if the orders of NBC
and CBS are carried out by artists, advertising agencies, etc.
"Is it to be thought for a moment that by such dicta
these two chain operators will at one stroke destroy the intellect¬
ual integrity of orchestra leaders and singers; render valueless
music libraries owned by these leaders in which there are millions
invested; nullify the value of the stocks of phonograph records
and electrical transcriptions stored by the hundreds of thousands
of dollars worth in the racks of the broadcasting stations through¬
out the country? .
"We invite any advertising agency representative, and
all performing artists and orchestra leaders to bring to our
attention each and every instance in which any pressure whatever
is brought to bear upon them that might deprive them of complete
freedom to choose, according to their artistic or commercial judg¬
ment, the music best suited to their particular use or purpose.
All information thus received will be held in strict and inviolable
confidence.
X X X X X X X X X X
On Sunday, August 11, Station KWOS, Jefferson City, Mo. ,
joined the coast-to-coast network as the 143rd Mutual network
full time affiliate.
XXXXXXXXXX
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8/13/40
THAD BROWN HEARINGS GO INTO SECOND MONTH
Still overshadowed by the alleged RCA bribery charges
in connection with the attempt to secure a Federal anti-trust
case continuance back in 1932 the inquiry by the Senate Inter¬
state Commerce Committee into the qualifications of Col. Thad H.
Brown to succeed himself as a member of the Federal Communications
Commission is now going into its second month. At the resumption
of the hearings Tuesday as was the case several days last week,
Colonel Brown himself was not even present.
David Sarnoff, President of the Radio Corooration of
America was recalled as a witness and was accompanied by Niles
Trammell, new President of the National Broadcasting Company. In
the absence of Senator Wheeler of Montana, Chairman of the
Committee, Senator Homer T. Bone, of Washington, presided.
As usual Senator Charles W. Tobey (R. ), of New Hampshire,
who has been the moving figure in conducting the inquiry was
assisted by his son Charles W. Tobey, Jr. , a graduate of Dartmouth
College and George Washington Universities. Roger Whiteford, who
had acted as RCA counsel in 1932, and a friend of Senator Moses,
also mentioned in the case, told Senator Tobey that he had had a
telephone conversation with former Senator George H. Moses (R. ),
of New Hampshire, last Monday night.
''Is Senator Moses coming down here to testify before
us?" Senator Tobey asked.
"That was what I advised him to do. I told him that
E. 0. Keller, a so-called contact man, had accused him of being
paid $5,000 by the RCA in connection with the court postponement. "
"I didn’t get anything out of that case", Mr. Whiteford
said Moses replied. "Anyway, I couldn't come down to Washington
before Thursday. "
It was said that if Senator Moses did not come voluntar¬
ily that he might be summoned.
"There were all kinds of stories that I had paid Senator
Moses money in this case in behalf of RCA", Mr. Whiteford declared,
"but they were not true. I never paid Senator Moses any money in
my life. "
Later when asked to produce three groups of bank check
stub-books pertinent to the case in 1932, Mr. Whiteford said they
were missing, that he could not help but believe "they had been
taken out deliberately".
"I should infer from that you think they were stolen",
Senator Tobey echoed. Also Mr. Whiteford could not produce a
check for $2,500 payable to Mr. A1 Hyslop, another friend of
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8/13/40
Senator Moses In New Hampshire. The charge had been made that
this money was really paid to Senator Moses. Mr. "White ford said
that it was merely a loan to Mr. Hyslop. Mr. White ford, when it
was charged that something like $30,000 had been spent by RCA in
its attempt to secure a postponement of the anti- trust suit,
ejaculated: "If that is true, I think it was a lousy waste of
money. "
"Did you hear that Senator Moses needed money for his
campaign fund?" Senator Tobey inquired of L. P. Handy, a Washing¬
ton realtor, who had been one of the go-betweens.
"No, but I heard that Senator Hastings did", was the
reply. The law firm of then Senator Daviel 0. Hastings, of
Delaware, had been retained by the RCA in the case. Mr. Handy
said when Mr. Samoff and party arrived in Concord, N.H. , to see
Senator Moses, Mr. Hyslop remarked: "It looks like a football
team coming up here. " To which Senator Tobey retorted, "Who was
calling the signals?"
"How about your threats to the RCA for money from the
three real estate men for their part in it - the threats that
caused Mr. Whiteford to read the "blackmail statute" to them,
Senator Tobey asked.
"I don't believe he ever read it."
"Whiteford testified he did. "
"The blackmail statute was never read in my presence. "
"Didn't you say if you didn't get your money you were
going to kick this case wide open?" Tobey asked.
"No",Handy replied.
"Didn't you threaten suit if the RCA didn't pay?"
"I certainly did. "
After a cross-examination of the witness by Manton Davis,
RCA counsel, Senator Tobey declared with some heat.
"Your legal representative met these people. He said
it was worth $50,000 to get a continuance of the court case. Your
legal representative asked them to contact somebody to get the
job done and the job was done. "
When Senator Wallace White (R. ), of Maine, a member of
the investigating committee, was asked when he thought the inquiry
would end. He replied, throwing up his hands:
"God only knows.' "
.
xxxxxxxxx
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FCC MEETS BUT NOT MUCH DOING
For the first time in several moons, there will be a
meeting of the full Federal Communications Commission tomorrow.
Recently, because of Summer vacations and other reasons, the work
of the Commission has been carried on by an Administrative Com¬
mittee, usually any two or three members who hapoened to be in
town.
Because of the fact that Chairman James L. Fly has not
yet returned from San Francisco, Commissioner T.A.M. Craven will
preside at tomorrow’ s meeting. Others to be present are Commis¬
sioners Thompson, Walker and Payne. The familiar face of Thad
Brown was missing, due to the fact that he has not been confirmed
by the Senate.
It was said nothing of particular importance was schedul¬
ed to come before the Commission at this mid-Summer meeting and
only routine business would be transacted.
xxxxxxxxx
GERMANS SCHEDULE NEW WAR SUPERHET
The far-reaching structural change in the German radio
industry necessitated by war conditions has been primarily toward
the manufacture of communication equipment for the armed forces.
By necessity the output of radios for civilian purposes other than
for export has been reduced to a minimum since the beginning of
hostilities and has since consisted largely of a mere assembly of
part stocks. A departure from this policy was the manufacture of
an unspecified but reputedly considerably number of German midget
radios at the beginning of 1940 (Deutsche Kleinempfaenger) . Now,
according to reports from the German Electrical Manufacturers’
Association, reprinted by the U. S. Commerce Department, the manu¬
facture is contemplated of a typical wartime high fidelity receiv¬
ing set which will contain only an indispensable minimum of "short"
raw materials. In this connection, it is noticeable that for
several months the radio trade as a rule has been selling new
replacement tubes only against the surrender of the old tubes.
The number of licensed radio receiving sets in Greater
Germany (inclusive of Danzig, Memelland and the incorporated
Eastern Provinces but exclusive of the Protectorate of Bohemia
and Moravia and of the occupied territories) amounted to 14,327,918
on May 1, 1940, an increase of 176,262 over the preceding month,
the American Embassy in Berlin reports. This number includes
1,004,277 receiving sets which are exempted from paying the license
fee for social reasons (shut-ins, disabled veterans, etc.). The
monthly license fee for radio sets in the new Eastern Provinces
amounts to RM 1.20 and to RM 2.00 in the other districts of the
Reich.
XXXXXXXXX
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8/13/40
NOW 45,000,000 SETS IN U.3.
There are now 45,000,000 radio sets in this country,
according to Neville Miller, President of the National Association
of Broadcasters. Addressing the 18th annual convention of the
NAB in San Francisco, Mr. Miller said last year had been radio’s
greatest, with sales of over 9,000,000 radio sets. ’'With less than
1$ of the world's population, our country has nearly half of all
broadcasting stations and receiving sets'', he stated in his
annual report.
Ed Kirby, NAB Public Relations Director, referred to "a
growingly mature and better understanding between press and radio"
that has arisen since the Munich crisis.
"It can be successfully demonstrated we believe", said
Mr. Kirby, "that the greater amount of coverage of important spot
news by radio, the greater number of newspapers sold, and, con¬
versely, as more newspapers are sold as a result of spot news
developments, the more radio news listening results. We believe
that NAB has eliminated an erroneous concept in some sections of
the newspaper world which felt that radio wished to live at the
expense of the press. Neither press nor radio can be sold at the
expense of the other for long. Each has its field of service. "
"Mr. Kirby' s statement is not news to circulation man¬
agers who have dealt with the problem of newspaper- radio competi¬
tion for the past decade", Editor & Publisher comments. "The
important point, it would seem, is that for the first time there
appears to be a better understanding between the press and radio
as to their respective functions in the field of news dissemination.
"As pointed out in our recent roundup on increased news¬
paper sales as result of the war, radio has not been a serious
handicap to newspaper circulations. True, radio has supplanted
the newspaper extra, but the press continues to enjoy an increas¬
ing readership as the public looks to radio for the news flash
and to the newspaper for the complete story. "
XXXXXXXXX
EVER HEAR OF RADIO VI LLE ?
Radio, Va. , just outside of Washington, adjoining
Arlington, where are located the great Army and Navy broadcasting
stations, has been on the map many years. Now, according to an
announcement by the Federal Communications Commission, a composite
transmitter has just been installed at the point-to-point telephone
station located at Radioville, Alaska.
XXXXXXXXX
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8/13/40
TRADE NOTES
A new GL-869-B mercury vapor rectifier employing a
horizontal mesh filament has been introduced by the General
Electric Company. The filament structure of the new tube makes
it possible to double the average anode current of previous 869' s
when filaments are connected in quadradure.
Thomas D. Connolly, CBS Sales Promotion executive, has
been appointed to the newly created post of "Manager of CBS Mer¬
chandising Service”.
The Zenith Radio Corp. has been granted a construction
permit for a new portable-mobile special relay broadcast for the
area of Chicago; 156750, 158400, 159300, 161100 kilocycles; 100
watts; to be used in connection with applicant’s high frequency
broadcast Station W9XER in Chicago.
"And with lotions of listeners" - a booklet containing
a study of the pulling power of the Jergens- Walter Winchell pro¬
gram has just been issued by Keith Kiggins, Sales Manager of the
NBC Blue Network.
A new 1000 kc. crystal unit, Type G18A, for use in
amateur frequency standards has been announced by General Electric
It has a temperature range of +10 degrees to **45 degrees centi¬
grade and a temperature coefficient over that range of .0001 per¬
cent per degree C.
Press Wireless, Inc., Hicksville, N.Y. , has been granted
extension of special temporary authority by the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission to point-to-point radiotelegraph station in the
Fixed Public Press Service, Hicksville, to communicate with the
Deutsche Reichspost, Berlin, Germany, until further order of the
Commission, but in no event beyond November 9, 1940, using its
regularlylicensed frequencies, power and emission.
Station KGLU, Safford, Arizona, will become affiliated
with the National Broadcasting Company, September 1, as a bonus
outlet for advertisers using Station KTAR, Phoenix, Arizona.
Mrs. Laura Hobson ha.s been appointed to the newly-
created post of "Copy Chief" of the CBS Sales Promotion Department
10
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8/13/40
Federal Judge William H. Holly entered a. final decree
in Chicago for the reorganization of the Majestic Radio and Tele¬
vision Co., and discharged the trustee in bankruptcy, Claude A.
Roth. Walter Glen Scott, of Newark, N.J. , a former member of the
Board of Directors of the dissolved concern, will be the Operating
Manager, and Elmer C. Upton, of Chicago, former secretary of the
Balaban and Katz Theater Corporation, will become Secretary-
Treasurer.
Columbia Broadcasting System and Subsidiaries for the
six months to June 89 showed a net income after all charges of
$2,932,976, equivalent to $1.72 a share on 1,716,277 common shares,
compared with $2,651,013, or $1.59 a share in the corre sponding
period of 1939. Gross revenues, less discounts, returns and
allowances, were $17,689,376, against $15,076,554.
Returning by plane from the San Francisco Broadcasters’
Convention where he was a speaker, Stephen T. Early, Secretary to
President Roosevelt, accompanied by Harry C. Butcher, Columbia
Vice-President in Washington, and Louis Ruppel, CBS publicity man
in New York, stopped off enroute at Seattle to visit President
Roosevelt's son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. John Boettiger.
xxxxxxxxxx
STATION BARS NAZI BROADCAST
Station WHIP, at Hammond, Ind. , has notified the German-
American National Alliance that hereafter its German-hour program
will not be accepted for broadcasts. The decision, it was annouc-
ed, was made by the station's Directors following what wa.s said to
have been a virtual order by theAlliance that all members must
listen to the broadcast of Colonel Lindbergh.
"The primary reason for using any foreign language on
the station has been to facilitate better understanding of American
institutions", said Dr. George F. Courrier, President of the Broad¬
casting corporation.
"It is obvious that the German- American National Alliance
represents a minority group of the American populace. Although it
is important to America to allow minorities to plead their cases at
the bar of public opinion, and that no essential right shall be
denied them, radio broadcasting cannot be regarded as an essential
right,
"Radio broadcasts should be used to solve problems rather
than.to create them. Any broadcast that engenders social conflicts
or kindles hatreds cannot be construed as serving the nublic in¬
terests. "
XXXXXXXXXX
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WIL1KIE QUICK ON THE RADIO TRIGGER
In demanding equal time with President Roosevelt and
talking “turkey" with Elliott Roosevelt, who happened to be pass¬
ing through Colorado Springs, Wendell Willkie proves himself
radio conscious and ready to fight for his rights on the air as
elsewhere.
Elliott Roosevelt told reporters that he end Willkie
had talked about the recent meeting in San Francisco of the
National Association of Broadcasters, at which the Republican
National Committee requested radio time equivalent to that given
President Roosevelt in his fireside chats.
Young Roosevelt advised Willkie that in view of the Hatch
law restricting campaign expenditures the radio should follow
newspapers in giving free expression to candidates' views.
"If Mr. Willkie comes to Texas", said Elliott, "I will
see that the Texas network gives him as much time as the Republican
Committee desires. "
Mark Sullivan in the Washington Post calls attention to
the importance of Mr. Willkie making good with the people in his
acceptance speech next Saturday, especially the radio part of it.
"Former Governor Landon' s acceptance speech did not draw
the country into the grip of his personality", Mr. Sullivan writes.
"For one reason, his personality was slight. For another, Mr.
Landon s radio voice and manner did not have the quality of
engagingness. Mr. Landon' s radio effectiveness improved somewhat
as he went on, but never became distinguished. Unfortunately,
as his radio technique improved, the substance of his campaign
speeches went the other way. So long as Mr. Landon' s speeches
dealt with subjects within which he had information and convictions
they were good. But his experience had not given him the scope
to deal authoritatively with all the issues of a presidential
campaign under modern conditions.
"Nothing of that kind need the Republicans fear about
Mr. Willkie. He has ideas and convictions, he has an extremely
well-read mind and an accurately functioning one. He is a natural
debater - he loves it. For expression, for putting his ideas
into effective words, he has a real gift. Whether he happens to
have radio personality is within the discretion of the gods. It
is very important in modern politics. My notion is that Mr.
Willkie has it; I just cannot imagine that immense magnetism, that
direct and simple heartiness, failing to project itself along the
air waves. "
XXXXXXXXXX
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INDEX TO ISSUE OF AUGUST 16, 1940
LEGAL DEPARTMENT
TV
BlGslUWi
I ™ 1 . 1940.)
f HI
4
-P
Sizzling Senate Session Marks Sarnoff Recall . 2
FCC Analyzes Program Expenses . 4
Columbia Seeks New L.A. Television Station . 4
Congressman Attacks Winchell Broadcasts . 5
Must Give Fixed Point-to Point Call Letters . 6
Senator Shows Further Interest in Pershing Broadcast . 7
Willkie Appealed to in RCA Case . 8
San Francisco Schools Would Try FM . 9
Control Regulations for British Radio Tubes . 10
Salvador Terminal Amendment Suspended . 10
Trade Notes . 11
New Frequency Monitors Approved . 12
NA3 Prez Upped to Probably $40,000 . 12
No. 1258
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* * * >
August 17, 1940.
SIZZLING SENATE SESSION MARKS SARNOFF RECALL
Despite the air-cooled hearing room, there seemed to he
a rise in temperature when David Sarnoff, President of the Radio
Corporation of America, and Senator Charles W. Tobey, of New
Hampshire, both hard hitters, again exchanged blows in a Senate
inquiry which old-timers may remember started a couple of months
ago to determine whether or not Thad Brown had been derelict in
his duties as a member of the Federal Communications Commission
and whether or not he should be given another term of 7 years at
$10,000 a year. For more than a week, Thad' s case has been for- ,
gotten in a searching investigation that Senator Tobey, frequently
aided by Senator Burton K. Wheeler, of Montana and Senator Clyde
Reed of Kansas, has been making into charges that the RCA eight
years ago bribed two United States Senators - Moses of New Hamp¬
shire and Hastings of Delaware - and Harry C. Mahaffy, Jr., Clerk
of the Federal District Court at Wilmington to get a Government
anti-trust suit postponed.
In the present scrimmage in the Senate, party lines seem
to have been forgotten. Thad Brown, whose reappointment is being
fought, is a Republican. Senators Tobey and Reed, who have been
so vigorously hammering Brown and later Columbia and the RCA, are
Republicans. Senator Wheeler, backing them up is a Democrat; Moses
and Hastings, both now out of the Senate, are Republicans.
The recall to Washington of Mr. Sarnoff, who had pre¬
viously testified at length, came as a surprise. With him and an
interested observer of what was very likely one of his first
Senate investigations was Niles Trammell, newly elected President
of the National Broadcasting Company. Mr. Trammell, however, in
the words of an old song "Went way back and sat down”. So did
Mr. Sarnoff who was kept waiting throughout the long morning
session and not called to testify until 2:30 o’clock in the after¬
noon.
When he finally took the witness stand, Mr. Sarnoff
said that he had tried to be frank and honest with the Committee.
He told of his embarrassment at the RCA' s lawyer, Robert O’ Callaghan
having enlisted the aid of three Washington real estate brokers in
the anti-trust case postponement.
"I was made president of the RCA the day the depression
began and the day the Government suit began. The RCA was just a
shell. I am proud of my accomplishment and what the company is
today", Mr. Sarnoff said. ”If we had lost the anti-trust suit,
the RCA would not only have been bankrupt but would have had to
go out of business. Then at the most discouraging time along
comes O’ Callaghan with his bright suggestion, which turned out to
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8/16/40
be anything but bright. I reprimanded him for bringing all these
people into it and said, ‘These are your skunks - you skin them]
"You abhor the tactics of O' Callaghan", Senator Tobey
shot back, "yet in the face of that you retained O' Callaghan
until this year renewing his contract at $10,000 a year. "
"Do you own 50,000 shares of RCA stock?
"You flatter me - I only own 5,000 shares."
"Is it true that you have been disposing of your stock
in the RCA?"
"No, I have increased my stock in the past ten years."
The charges of Mr. Sarnoff's large stockholdings and
that he was disposing of his stock appeared in a long attack on
the RCA, which Senator Tobey then read, prepared by a business
analyst J. Austin Smith. The RCA later hired Smith.
"The more Smith damned you, the more he castigated you,
blacklisted you, and ripped you up the back, the more anxious you
were to have him in the folds of the company. It doesn’t make
sense, does it?" Senator Tobey asked.
"Isn’t it damned funny", Senator Tobey exploded, "after
Smith had dynamited you that you took him into your company? Why
didn't you say, 'You rascal, put up or shut up’? Why didn't you
sue him for these attacks. Why does big business make a fool of
itself when someone sticks a knife in its fifth rib and then
instead of fighting sa3>'s ’Come into our happy family'?"
"A corporation official must relieve himself of dealing
with this individual or that individual", Mr. Sarnoff answered.
"You refuse to stigmatize such a rascal but then by
George you take him into the company. "
"Smith said you got a "600,000 bonus", Senator Tobey
stated.
"That is not only a lie but it is crazy. "
"You say it is a lie, then Manton Davis, your lawyer,
hires him. "
"I am inclined to say that was a mistake."
"Doesn't the Scripture say 'Avoid any appearance of
evil?* " Senator Tobey queried.
"Yes", Mr. Sarnoff retorted getting a' laugh from the
Senators and audience, "but many appearances of evil have virtue
underneath. "
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To which Mr. Samoff added: "One of the values of this
hearing has been to make us wiser. "
"I am delighted if that has been the result", Senator
Tobey concluded.
XXXXXXXX
FCC ANALYZES PROGRAM EXPENSES
Two statistical statements compiled by the Federal
Communications Commission by licensees of standard broadcast sta¬
tions and the three major networks have just been printed and
distributed. The first is entitled "Analysis of Program Expenses
of Stations with Time Sales of $25,000 or more and the three
Major Networks 1939" carrying
the following
conclusion:
Item
519 stations
3 Major
Networks
Total
Program expenses:
Salaries and wages of program
deoartment $ 6,417,118
$2,382,846
$8,799, 96i
Talent expenses
9,504,431
5,376, 229
14,880, 660
Royalties and license fees
relating to program
mate rial
4, 289,454
519,857
4,809,311
Cost of wire services,
exclusive of transmitter
line
2,305,434
5,145,223
7,450, 657
Other expenses directly
related to program
2, 993,042
1,045,613
4,038,655
Total program expenses
$25, 509,479
$14,469,768
$39,979,247
The second statement has to do with cost and average
cost of power to Standard Broadcast Stations having time sales of
$25,000 or more in 1939.
XXX X XXXXXX
COLUMBIA SEEKS NSW L. A. TELEVISION STATION
An application for a construction permit for a new
television broadcast station in Los Angeles has been received
from the Columbia Broadcasting System. It would be operated on
Channel 3, 66,000-72,000 kc. , 1,000 watts visual and aural and
emission A3 and A5.
XXXXXXXXX
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8/16/40
CONGRESSMAN ATTACKS WINCHELL BROADCASTS
An echo of the radio rumpus in the Senate was the intro¬
duction of a newspaper story describing one of the RCA sessions
into the Congressional Record of August 12 be Representative,
J. Thorkelson, (r) of Montana who took the occasion to attack
Walter Winchell as follows:
"This article about the RCA verifies statements which I
have made during the 2 years I have been here in Congress. The
National Broadcasting Co. is the network over which the Jewish
vilifier, Walter Winchell, exhaled his poisonous defamatory remarks
against any and all who believe in the fundamental principles of
this Government. It does not matter to him who they are or what
position they occupy, if they cannot see eye to eye with his own
organized minority. They are all wrong, according to Mr. Winchell.
The president of this station, Mr. Sarnoff, evidently is in accord
with the statements made by Mr. Winchell, and he sould be, because
he is one of the same people, only he comes from Russia."
"I have said many times that our national-broadcasting
stations and the national press are controlled and dominated by
this minority, where nothing is broadcast or published except what
is in accord this minority viewpoint. It is because of this con¬
trol the people have remained uninformed to date, and it is to en¬
lighten them that I have made it my business to insert such infor¬
mation in the Congressional Record so that the people of this
Nation should learn the truth. "
"As to Mr. Winchell himself, little can be said, or,
rather, nothing should be said, as even the most contemptible ex¬
pressions give him too much credit. The New Yorker carried an
article in which it alleged that Edgar Hoover, of the F. B. I. ,
furnished this Charlie McCarthy of the air two G-men for his pro¬
tection. I often wonder why the people should be taxed to protect
such accidents of humanity. I cannot imagine what they are saving
him for. For what purpose can he serve, except as a mediocre
mudslinger? I would be much more sensible to give him a shovel so
that he may engage in respectable labor. He could at least in such
occupation dig a pit for himself to fall in, and what a relief that
would be to those who are tired of his diatribes and slander! This
crowd, as the article clearly shows, lives on bribes. Benjamin
Franklin had his contracts and troubles when he tried to finance
the Revolutionary War, for he had dealings with those whose god is
gold and whose savior is a bribe. "
XXXXXXXXXX
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MUST C-IVE FIXED POINT-TO-POINT CALL LETTERS
To meet the need of identifying transmission by fixed
public point-to-point radiotelegraph and radiotelephone stations
for monitoring purposes, the Federal Communications Commission has
adopted a new rule requiring identification announcements at
specified intervals.
Worked out in cooperation with the various common carriers,
this rule provides that identification call letters be transmitted
at least twice each hour. In the case of radiotelegraph stations
using international Morse code, it shall be at a speed of not to
exceed 25 words a minuet without the use of multiplexing, tape
facsimile, or other methods of operation. In the case of radio¬
telephone stations, type A-3 emission may be used, provided privacy
or secrecy equipment is not employed during such transmission.
The new requirement is intended to assist adequate national
defense surveilance without unduly impairing the efficiency or rapi¬
dity of service now offered by the various companies. Up to now
these stations have not been required to transmit the call letters
of the frequencies emitted.
The complete text of the new rule follows:
Sec. 6.3? Call leters, transmission of. Every point-to-
point telegraph and telephone station in the fixed public and fixed
public press services shall transmit three times in succession at
half hourly intervals during each 24 hour period the identifying
call letters of the frequency or frequencies below 50,000 kilo¬
cycles on which transmissions are taking place. This transmission
shall be made v-ithin the period ten minutes before and ten minutes
after the hour and half hour under the following conditions:
Point-to-point Telegraph Stations.
(a) The transmission shall be made in international Morse
code utilizing either type A-I or type A-2 emission at a transmission
speed not to exceed twenty-five words per minute without the use of
multiplexing, tape facsimile, printer or other similar equipment or
methods of operation during such period and shall consist of trans¬
mitting the signal ttQRA de " followed by the call letters.
(b) Point-to-point telegraph stations engaged in a. radio¬
photo or an Addressed Program transmission shall not be required to
transmit identifying call letters during the period when such
identification would interrupt the continuity of the program or
radiophoto that is being transmitted. In any such case the identi¬
fying call letters shall be transmitted as outlined above, immediate¬
ly following the conclusion of the program or radiophoto.
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Point-to-Point Telephone Stations
(a) The transmission shall be made employing either type
A-l, A- 2 or A- 3 emission; provided, however, when utilizing type
A-l or A- 2 emission the transmission shall be made in international
Morse code at a transmission speed not to exceed twenty-five words
per minute and shall consist of transmitting the signal "QRA de "
followed by the call letters. When utilizing type A- 3 emission,
all privacy or secrecy devices shall be removed from the transmitter
input circuit during such period and the announcement shall be made
in the following order: "This is Station (call letters).”
(b) Point-to point telephone stations continuously engag¬
ed in a public telephone message, radiophoto, or an Addressed Progra:
transmission shall not be required to transmit identifying call
letters during the period when such identification would interrupt
the continuity of the message, radiophoto, or program that is being
transmitted.. In any such case the identifying call letters shall
be transmitted, as outlined above, immediately following the con¬
clusion of the message, radiophoto, or program.
xxxxxxxxxxx
SENATOR SHOWS FURTHER INTEREST IN PERSHING- BROADCAST
Still pursuing the subject of the origin of the recent
broadcast of General John J. Pershing, Senator Burton K. Wheeler
(D) of Montana had printed in the Congressional Record the follow¬
ing editorial from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
"So that the people may know what forces are behind the
proposal to send 50 American destroyers to help England, the Post-
Dispatch has done some exploring into the background of General
Pershing's broadcast of last Sunday. The findings are not complete,
but they are most informative. Indeed, the curtain of silence and
secrecy encountered at various points is highly significant in it¬
self. "
"Joseph Alsop, columnist and zealous Anglophile, arranged
for the broadcast, but now asserts "it would be wiser" for him to
say nothing about it. The day after the Pershing speech, his col¬
umn wrote an article this week endorsing it, says General Pershing
asked him to talk over the address, but declines to say who else
participated. The general's aide, Colonel Adamson, says several
persons, whom he would not name, had urged the general to make the
speech. Pershing, who holds the key to the mystery, refuses to be
interviewed about the speech or its origin. Just why all this
disinclination to speak of the part of Messrs. Alsop Lippmann,
Adamson, and Pershing?
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"Enough has come out to prove conclusively that the
speech was part of a concerted campaign to send destroyers to
England — an action which would, in the opinion of competent ex¬
perts, weaken American defenses and constitute an act of war. The
choice of General Pershing to put it before the public was a canny
move. He is a military hero, a venerated figure. Isn’t it likely
that some shrewd mind considered him the ideal person to answer
another popular hero, Colonel Lindbergh, who was scheduled to make
an anti-interventionist broadcast?"
"The people are entitled to know the full facts as to the
origin and inspiration of the Pershing speech. The mystery of his
sudden emergence from retirement, at almost 80, to make this plea
ought to be cleared up. General Pershing is still an officer of
the United States Army. It would be entirely proper for a committee
of Congress to call on him, and the other figures in this strange
episode, to tell the full story. It is vital that Congress and the
people know exactly what is going on backstage in Washington in
these crucial times. A congressional investigation is assuredly in
order.
XXXXXXXXXX
WILLKIE APPEALED TO IN RCA CASE
Others of the greatest prominence having been mentioned
including President Roosevelt, former President Hoover, former
Vice-President Dawes, the name of another celebrity was added to
the RCA Senate investigation when Governor George D. Aiken ( R)
called upon Wendell Willkie to use all his influence to obtain
the resignation of Former Senator Daniel 0. Hastings, of Delaware
from the Republican Party’s National Executive Committee.
In an open letter to the Republican Presidential nominee,
Aiken referred to testimony before a Senate subcommittee that
Hastings received $7,500 for a fee from Radio Corporation of
America for his efforts toward obtaining a continuance of a Gov't
antitrust suit against RCA.
At about the same time that Governor Aiken sent the
letter to Mr. Willkie , Former Senator Hastings, again called to
the Senate witness stand characterized as a "plain damned lie" any
inference he had paid any money to Harry C. Mahaffy, Jr. , clerk to
the United States Court in Wilmington, Delaware, to use his in¬
fluence with Judge John P. Nields, for a continuance of an RCA
antitrust suit in 1932. It had been charged that Former Senator
Hastings had had considerable to do in having Judge Nields appoint¬
ed to the Federal Bench.
Senator Tobey ( R) of New Hampshire asked if Mr. Hastings
had lost a case in the United States Court in Wilmington since 1934.
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The witness answered that he wished he could say no, and then added
that if the Senator were implying that the witness had been favored
by Federal Judge Nields, presiding in the court, he was wrong.
In explanation of his long series of victories before
Judge Nields, Mr. Hastings announced, "I’m a good lawyer. Other
lawyers have won many cases before Judge Nields. There is nothing
unusual about what Judge Nields has done for me."
J. Austin Smith, New York accountant, told the Committee
that he had been employed in 1936 to write a report critical of the
Radio Corporation of1 America so that his employer might make a
connection with the company.
He was hired., he said by Patrick Powers, Westport, Conn. ,
retired motion picture executive, who wanted him "to make a report
which would embarrass RCA" the report, which he said was prepared
from data furnished by Powers, criticized RCA's administrative and
financial structure.
After the report was drafted, Smith said, that Powers ob¬
tained employment for him from RCA which paid him $20,000 to $25,000
in the next four years. Smith said that he then learned that the
report "was not based on sufficient investigation. " He did not say
whether Powers made a "connection. "
Senator Tobey interrupted. Smith to say:
"By your own admission you were employed to write an ad¬
verse, hostile and critical report and draw every conclusion you
could that would be injurious to the corporation. "
"I say the fellow responsible should be put where he can't
make such reports, " the Senator declared. "This is a. damnable
situation, based on partial evidence — a frame-up, you can call it. "
XXXXXXXXXXX
SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOLS WOULD TRY FM
First use of FM (frequency modulation) broadcast in the
non-commercial educational field is proposed by the Board of Educa¬
tion of the San Francisco Unified School District as a result of
being granted a construction permit by the Federal Communications
Commission for a new station at 22nd and Bartlett Streets, that city,
to operate on 42,100 kilocycles with 1 kilowatt power, unlimited time.
It intends to use radio for instructional, administrative^
supervisory, and other functions in the local schools. Thirteen
studios are planned for high schools and colleges in that area. They
will he connected with the broadcast station by means of leased wires.
In this manner it is expected that a greater number of teachers and
pupils will be enabled to participate with less effort and expense of
transportation.
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The broadcast programs will cover nearly all of San
Francisco as well as the East Bay area which includes the cities
of Alameda, Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito and Richmond. The Board
of Education, which is the governing body of the San Francisco
Unified School District, has allocated $9,000 for the station, and
an additional amount of $42,000 has been made available.
Three other institutions were previously licensed to
use AM (amplitude modulation) on the channels set aside for non¬
commercial educational purposes. They are the New York City Board
of Education, the Cleveland Board of Education, and, more recently,
the University of Kentucky.
xxxxxxxxxx
CONTROL REGULATIONS FOR BRITISH RADIO TUBES
The Office of the American Commercial Attache in London
reports the present position regarding control regulations for radio
tubes in the United Kingdom is that the importation of tubes, as well
as other radio parts, is entirely prohibited. There is, as in all
British import prohibitions, a qualification relating to goods for
export or for Government contracts, but so far as it has been
possible to ascertain, any exception allowed from the import pro¬
hibition is not limited to any particular type of tube.
In April the importation of valves and parts continued to
be allowed on the basis of 25 percent of imports in the period
immediately preceding the beginning of the war. Subsequently this
concession was also withdrawn although no formal Order was required
or issued. The Import Licensing Department did, however, notify
importers informally, under date of June 13, that licenses would no
longer be issued for the importation of wireless parts or valves from
countries other than France "with the possible exception of parts for
apparatus for export or for Government contracts". Later, of course,
the exception for imports from France was withdrawn.
XXXXXXXXXX
SALVADOR TERMINAL AMENDMENT SUSPENDED
The Commission FCC took the following action:
Pending inquiry, suspended for 90 days amendments to tar¬
iffs of certain companies proposing to increase rates applicable to
all classes of radiotelegraph messages, save ordinary press messages,
to Salvador to meet an additional one cent terminal charge per word
applied by the government of that country. The companies concerned
are All America Cable and Radio, Inc., Commercial Pacific Cable Co.,
RCA Communications, Inc., Tropical Radio Telegraph Co., and Western
Union Telegraph Co.
XXXXXXXXXXX
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• •
TRADE NOTES::
Dr. W. D. Coolidge, director of the General Electric
Research Laboratory, has been named to the newly organized National
Inventors’ Council, a body created by the Secretary of Commerce to
encourage civilian inventions as part of the national defense pro¬
gram.
Station WOV, Greater New York Broadcasting Corporation
New York City, has been granted a construction permit to change
frequency from 1180 Kc to 1100 Kc to power to 5 kilowatts night
and 10 kilowatts daytime, unlimited hours of operation and per¬
mission to install a new transmitter and directional antenna..
Meade Brunet has been appointed by the RCA Manufacturing
Company, Inc., Camden, N.J,m as manager of the engineering products
division, in addition to his position as manager of the company's
Washington office.
Mutual System, Inc., and Subsidiaries — Six months to June
30: Net income, $27,858, equal to 15 cents each on 184,279 shares
of common stock, compared with $20,859, or 11 cents each on 171,774
shares of common stock for the corresponding six months of 1959.
Under a new NBC setup Donald G. Stratton, will concentrate
on spot sales in an area which will include the Cleveland, Detroit
and Pittsburgh territories. Elmer Kettell, who has just joined the
NBC sales organization, will be the spot sales representative for
New England. J. S. De Russey, operating from the New York office,
will cover Newark and Philadelphia.
In a reorganization of the NBC Pacific Coast sales divi¬
sion, Sydney Dixon was named Sales Manager of the Coast Red Network
and Tracy Moore was appointed Sales Manager of the Coast Blue Net¬
work, it was announced in Hollywood by Don.E. Gilman, vice president
in charge of the Western Division.
John M. Cooper, News Editor of WBZ and WBZA in Boston for
the past six months, has been named Director of Publicity for
Station KDKA by John A. Holman, General Manager of the Westinghouse
Station in Pittsburgh. Mr. Cooper joined the WBZ and WBZA staff
last February from the Boston Transcript, where he had edited and
broadcast the Transcript news over those stations. After the
election was over in 1958, Mr. Cooper having been Publicity Director
for the Main Democratic State Committee, he joined the staff of
Station WCSH in Portland as News Editor, resigning in 1959 to go
to Boston.
XXXXXXXXXX
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NEW FREQUENCY MONITORS APPROVED
The Chief Engineer of the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion acting under and by virtue of the authority conferred upon
him by Section 2(h) of Administrative Order No. 2 has approved the
following frequency monitors for use by standard broadcast sta¬
tions as complying with the requirements of Section 3.60 of the
Rules and Regulations and the provisions of Section 15 of the
Standards of Good Engineering Practice:
Manufacturer's Name
Type
Approval Number
General
Radio
Company
Type 25 A (Formerly
Oscillator, Type 475-C,
Deviation Meter, Type 681-B,
Quarts Plate Type 376-L)
1461
General
Radio
Company
Type 25-AB (Oscillator
Type 475-B and Deviation
Meter 681-A modified)
1463
RCA Manufacturing Co.
Type 3 11- A
1462
Western
Electric Co.
Type I-C
(Type I- A modified)
1464
The above monitors are the only frequency monitors approved
at the present time as complying with Section 3.60 of the Rules and
Regulations, effective August 1, 1940. These are the only monitors
vMch may be employed by new stations (original construction permit
granted on or after August 1, 1939). However, several other manu¬
facturers have submitted, or have advised that they propose to sub¬
mit data showing that with certain modifications, monitors that
were formerly approved under Section 21 of the Standards of Good
Engineering Practice are capable of compliance with Section 3.60
of the Rules and Regulations and Section 15 of the Standards of
Good Engineering Practice.
If and when these modified monitors are approved, they will be
assigned approval numbers and will be listed with the above units
as approved frequency monitors under Section 21 of the Standards of
Good Engineering Practice.
In the event existing stations (original construction permit
granted priot to Aug. 1, 1939) do not choose to have the present
monitors modified after the modifications in the monitor are approved
by the Commission or nave other than approved modifications made,
they may continue to use the formerly approved monitors. However,
no explanation of a frequency deviation in excess of that permitted
by Section 3.59 can be accepted where it is evident or claimed that
the deviation was due to the failure or inaccuracy of the monitor.
XXXXXXXXX
NAB PREZ UPPED TO PROBABLY $40,000
. That the National Association of Broadcasters is satisfied
Iin experiment of having a paid President is indicated by the
v-LUjUUO raise and extension of the contract of Neville Miller at
an Francisco. Mr. Miller is said to be receiving at present $30,000
with allowances which, with the salary increase voted, would
put him in the $40,000 class.
XXXXXXXXXX
12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF AUGUST 20, 1940
LEGAL DEPARTMENT ___ *
* [EDI (gill® 101
, Ira - m ;
k#!1 ' -'-H
4»j ••• . * .in -
Willkie Has Convincing Aggressive Radio Voice . 2
Further FCC Legal Restrictions . 5
U. S. Shipping in Argentina Radio Sales . 3
Television Sets January 1 as Goal . 5
Radio Draftsmen and Signal Corps Inspectors Sought . 6
Chicago Experts Work to Iron Out F-M Kinks . 7
Azores Is Short-Wave Listening Post . 8
FCC Chairman Returns From The West . 9
I.R. E. To Meet Aug. 28-30 . ..9
National Research Council RCA Fellowship Established . 10
New San Francisco NBC Sales Divisions . 10
New Rules Governing Fixed Radio Services . . . 11
Trade Notes
12
August 20, 1940
WILLKIE HAS CONVINCING AGGRESSIVE RADIO VOICE
Any fears of his adherents as to whether or not Wendell
Willkie had the radio voice to compete with President Roosevelt were
entirely put at rest by the success of Mr. Willkie’s Indiana broad¬
cast. As much a novice in radio as in politics and entirely diff¬
erent from President Roosevelt in every respect, quality of voice,
middle Western accent, aggressive rough and tumble, chip on the
shoulder hard hitting fighter, Wendell Willkie apparently delighted
the radio people with his possibilities in the forthcoming campaign
where the man who was the most convincing over the radio may win.
Broadcasters because of the strangle hold the Government
has on them through the control of their stations were naturally shy
about being quoted in a comparison of President Roosevelt and Mr.
Willkie, but it may be safely said that the El wood broadcast demon¬
strated to their complete satisfaction that the latter could hand
it back to the President over the radio as good as it was sent. And
didn’t they prick up their ears when Willkie, the tough old jury
lawyer, suggested a series of Lincoln-Douglas joint debates. Would¬
n’t that be something to put on the air, the broadcasters said.
At that Mr. Willkie was heard under difficult conditions
last Saturday. Wilted by the 102 degree heat, voice husky from the
48 hour seige of personally greeting home folks, irked by having to
read his speech when he knew he could do much better without a manu¬
script, and facing a radio audience which had been addressed at too
great length by Representatives Halleck of Indiana and Joseph Martin
of Massachusetts , the odds were against the nominee. Ordinarily,
Halleck and Martin, both good speakers, would have been listened to
with interest but on this occasion with them rehashing a lot of
stuff about Willkie that everybody already knew by heart, the radio
audience was a good deal in the frame of mind of a sports crowd
sitting through the bouts of the preliminary fighters and restlessly
awaiting the champs.
No orator, Mr. Willkie seemed to be very successful in
projecting his fighting personality through the etherial waves to
what was probably one of the greatest daytime audiences in the
history of radio. In addition to his aggressiveness and confidence,
the speaker unquestionably got across to his radio listeners, the air
of sincerity which so impresses those who meet him in person — that he
is not merely a promiser but a doer.
The difference between Mr. Willkie ' s Middle Western accent
and the polished Eastern accent of President Roosevelt was very mark¬
ed over the air. The Republican nominee had a way of collapsing the
lirst syllable of words such as "Plitical" (political), "rligion”
(religion) and "bleve” (believe). His manner of speech was typically
rfoosier despite long residence in the East.
- 2 -
August 20, 1940
Although coming along as a trailer and evidently in
commercial time immediately following Mr. Willkie 's speech was an
entirely new radio salesman par excellance. Instead of selling
watches or soap, this youthful super salesman of the air took the
opportunity to hit the iron while it was hot for Wendell Willkie
and the Associated Willkie Clubs which are being so rapidly organized
It was no other than Orrin Root, Jr. , the young Princeton graduate.
Credited with being one of Willkie’ s earliest discovery's and now
organizing Willkie Clubs throughout the country. Mr. Root seemed to
have everything it takes to get himself over the air and if thousands
didn't sign on the dotted line after his earnest talk in behalf of
Mr. Willkie and the Willkie Clubs, it vould surprise this observer.
Evidently Mr. Root is a young man Mr. Ted Church, Radio Director of
the. Republican Committee, shouldn't overlook because the boy is
really good and sounded over the aitfas if he really believed what
he said.
XXXXXXXXXX
FURTHER FCC LEGAL RESTRICTIONS
The Federal Communications Commission amended Section 1.38
of its Rules of Practice and Procedure by designating the existing
rule as subsection (a) and by adding an additional subsection read¬
ing as follows:
"(b) No member, officer or employee of the
Commission (1) whose active service with the
Commission has terminated but who is receiving
pay while on annual leave not taken prior to
separation from such active service, or (2) who
is in any other leave status, shall appear as
attorney or participate in the preparation or
handling of any matter before, or to be sub¬
mitted to, the Commission. "
XXXXXXXXXX
U.S. SHIPPING IN ARGENTINA RADIO SALES
Argentina continues to be one of the largest foreign
markets for American radio materials, although the value of United
States radio exports to that country has declined from the 1937
record level of $2,621,806 to $1,859,216 in 1938 and $1,376,264 in
1939.
Local radio reception is good on the medium waves, while
short wave reception is normal, and depends largely on the trans¬
mitting station. American stations have recently improved in signal
strength, but are still not quite as strong as German or British
Stations.
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The least satisfactory period for shrot wave reception
is the summer months of December, January, and February. From 4
to 6.30pm is the worst time of the day for local reception of short
wave. There is also fading in the north-south circuit from 12.30
to 1.30pm. Reception is very good from 7 to 11 pm from almost any
direction.
A consensus of the most reliable estimates would indicate
that there are between 1,000,000 and 1,050,000 receiving sets in
use in Argentina. About 250,000 sets are sold each year. The
principal season each year is from April to October.
The domestic radio industry is well organized, and virtu¬
ally all of the receiving sets are now produced within the country.
The local manufacture of parts is also substantial, although the
sale of components continues to account for the largest share of
the United States trade. Imports of American tubes have declined
in recent years, partly owing to increasing activity on the part of
local tube assembler.
The principal competitor of American lines is the Dutch
company, Philips, which is active in all phases of the ra,dio field,
and which is continuing with its endeavors to dominate this market.
The Republic of Argentina has an area of over 1,000,000
square miles, extending 2,300 miles from north to south and being
about 1,000 miles acr ss the widest part. If compared with the
Northern Hemisphere, Argentina would extend from Labrador to Cuba,
and Buenos Aires would be located at about the same latitude as
Little Rock, Arkansas.
Population is estimated at approximately 13,000,000 about
three- fourths of which is urban.
The city of Buenos Aires, with a population of 2,500,000
and its immediate vicinity, account for about half the Argentine
radio sales.
There are two important station chains in Argentina.
"Radio El Mundo " broadcasts daily in conjunction with 11 other
stations in the interior, which "Radio Belgrano" works with 8
other stations in Argentina and one in Uruguay. These chain pro¬
grams are available up to a total of seven hours daily. "Radio
Excelsior" programs are also occasionally transmitted from LT8 in
Rosario.
XXXXXXXXXX
A new 16-page short-wave station guide which lists several
hundred stations throughout the world, revised since the European
ffar began, together with their frequencies and call letters, has beerm
prepared by the broadcasting division of the General Electric Company.
The book is being offered gratis to listeners of the com¬
pany's international stations and since the first announcement less
than a month ago, more than 2,00 requests have been received from
Latin and South America. The guide also includes operating schedules
°f stations and a world-wide time map comparing times of the world
with Eastern Standard Time. It is printed in English, Spanish and
French. XXXXXXXXXX
- 4
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August 20, 1940
TELEVISION SETS JANUARY 1 AS GOAL
The National Television Systems Committee, organized in
New York last month, is expediting its technical studies under the
leadership of Chairman W. R. G. Baker, with January 1 as an informal
goal.
The Industry Committee has been completed through the
appointment of three additional memebers: Ray H. Manson to re¬
present the Stromberg- Carlson Telephone Mfg. Co. , Dr. Palph Brown
of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, and President Paul R. Raidbourn
of Television Productions, Inc. , New York, a subsidiary of Para¬
mount Pictures.
Nine "panels", or subcommittees, of research and technical
experts are completing their personnel and arranging their programs
of technical studies and transmitter experiments. B. Ray Cummings
of Fort Wayne, Ind. , has been appointed chairman of the "panel" on
Transmitter Characteristics in place of Philo T. Farnsworth, thus
completing the organization of the "panel" chairmen.
A meeting of the "Panel" Chairmen will be held on Wednes¬
day, August 21, in New York City, for the purpose of detailing the
program of each "panel" and outlining the various steps and time
necessary for the study of each problem. Many other meetings of
subcommittees, or "panels", of the Industry Committee will be held
next month.
In accordance with the decisions arrived at the first
meeting of the National Television Systems Committee as held in
New York City last month on the study of the wide range of technical
problems undertaken by the committee and its component panels is
under way. The organization of the personnel of the panel, or sub¬
committee, on Coordination of Transmitters and Receivers is complete
and the work in this field has begun.
This panel has been organized under the chairmanship of
I. J. Kaar of the General Electric Company to study and report on
the essential factors of coordination in the design and operation
of television transmitters and receivers. Among these are included
such matters as the degree of pre-emphasis to be employed in the
sound channel of the transmitter and the corresponding degree of
deemphasis to be given the sound channel in the receiving equipment:
the basically similar treatment to be given the video sidebands in
the transmitter and the corresponding treatment to be given in the
receiver; and associated or similar problems.
For this work the following group of engineers have been
appointed by Dr. Baker, chairman, to work with Mr. Kaar:
August 20, 1S40
E. F. W. Alexanderson, General Electric Company, Schenec¬
tady; R. D. Kell, RCA Victor Company, Inc., Camden; F. J. Bingley,
Phiico Radio & Television Corn. , Philadelphia; N. P. Case, Hazeltine
Service Corporation, New York; J. N. Dyer, Columbia Broadcasting
System, New York, and T. T. Goldsmith, Allen E. Du Mont Laboratories,
Passaic.
Also, M. Cawein, Fbrnsworth Radio & Television Corp. , Fort
Wayne, Ind. ; A. G. Jensen, Bell Telephone Laboratories, New York;
H. R. Lubcke, Don Lee Broadcasting System, Los Angeles, George Towne,
Stromberg- Carlson Telephone Mfg. Co., Rochester; Paul J. Larsen,
Baird Television Corp. , East Orange; Herman Greenberg, Fulton Radio
Corp. , New York; and D. D. Israel, Emerson Radio & Phonograph Corp. ,
New York.
This group will make extensive studies of all aspects of
the problems allocated to this panel and develop from these studies
those practices that will provide the best national system of
television broadcasting.
This panel on Transmitter- Receiver Coordination is but one
of the nine panels in whose hands the study and development of the
engineering essentials of a suitable national television system have
been placed. The organization of the personnel and the work of all
of these panels are proceeding rapidly and it is anticipated that
this division of the work of the National Television Systems
Committee and the application to the many problems of substantially
all of the specialized skills which the nation affords will result
in their early and satisfactory solution.
XXXXXXXXXX
RADIO DRAFTSMEN AND SIGNAL CORPS INSPECTORS SOUGHT
The United States Civil Service Commission announces
examinations of interest to oersons trained in radio engineering
work as follows:
, Engineering Draftsman, five grades, salaries ranging from
vl, o20. to $2,600 a year. The optional branches of drafting include
electrical and radio. Applications must be on file with the Civil
Service Commission, not later than September 12.
Applications will also be received and rated until fur¬
ther notice by the Civil Service Commission for the positions of
inspector, three grades, Signal Corps Equipment, salaries ranging
irom $2,000 to $3,200 a year. These examinations are announced
ior the Signal Corps, War Department, for duty in the field. Appli¬
cants mush show 4 years of college study leading to a bachelor’s
^egree in electrical or radio engineering. In addition, for the
senior Inspector and Inspector grades, they must have had experience
n the inspection and/or testing of varied signal corps equipment,
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radio, telephone, telegraph, and power units, etc., to determine
compliance with specifications. An additional year of inspectional
experience may be substituted for each year lacking of the required
college education; engineering experience in the field of communi¬
cation and/or navigational radio work may be substituted for the
engineering experience, except that for the Sen:. or grade at least
one year of inspectional experience must be shown.
Application forms and information may be obtained from
the Secretary, Board of U. S. Civil Service Examiners, at any first
or second-class post office, or from the Commission’s Washington
Office.
xxxxxxxxxx
CHICAGO EXPERTS WORK TO IRON OUT F-M KINKS
The radio industry has gone to work to overcome the ob¬
stacles that stand in the way of a full appreciation of its newest
wonder, frequency modulation. F-M is Maj. Edwin H. Armstrong' s
new system of high fidelity, staticless broadcasting, Larry Wolters
writer in the Chicago Tribune.
Station W-G-N last Tuesday filed an application for a
50, 000- watt F-M transmitter with the federal communications commiss¬
ion.
Before embracing F-M, radio experts suggest that it may be
wise for listeners, particularly if middle aged listeners or elderly
to have their hearing range tested. F-M transmits the entire range
of tones audible to humans from 25 to 15,000 cycles (or waves) per
second. Moreover, the FCC has set this 15,000 "ceiling” as standard
for F-M stations. They must all transmit the full range.
Only a minority of humans can hear tones this high. (Dogs
hear much toned higher. The silent dog whistle, inaudible to humans
is pitched at 16,000 cycles. ) Large scale tests, conducted by Bell
Telephone laboratories, show approximately 10,000 as the upper limit
for the minority of humans.
Many middle aged or elderly persons, unaware of aura short¬
comings, have found their range not extending much beyond 5,000 after
submitting to tests. Such persons cannot hear a piano with complete
naturalness. The range of its fundamental tones is from 26 to
4,186 (middle C is 256). But with its harmonic or overtones, which
give an instrument its tone quality, or timbre, the piano reaches
up to 8,100 cycles.
Many persons who are not aware of any impairment in their
auditory equipment cannot hear the chirp of crickets. Their range
extends from 3,000 to around 6,000 cycles.
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1
This came to the attention of E. F. McDonald, Jr. ,
president of Zenith Radio Corporation in Chicago. He had tested
all Zenith workmen who must rely on their hearing in their jobs.
A startlingly high proportion, Commander McDonald said,
were found to have hearing impairments, particularly deficiencies
in their sense of range. Those with !itin!: ears were transferred
to jobs where good hearing was not a, prerequisite, Mr. McDonald
recommended similar tests for piano tuners.11
F-M broadcasters face a major bottleneck in the limited
capacity of network telephone circuits. Mutual- s leased circuits,
best available, carry only 5,250 cycles.
Phone lines from W-G-N’ s studios to transmitter can handle
8,000 cycles. Still better facilities will be available for short
distances linking F-M transmitters and studios. But suitable long
distance lines for F-M are not available. Broadcasters are told by
the telephone companies that they cannot be laid without great ex¬
pense .
So the F-M interests are seriously considering setting up
radio relay networks without telephone wires. Stations would be
linked together by "beam" transmitters at 50 to 100 mile intervals.
Such networks, they say, would provide high fidelity transmission.
Standard receivers truned out in volume today will carry
only from about 5,500 to 5,000 cycles. But manufacturers are pre¬
pared to make higher fidelity receivers, with the advent of F-M
when the other obstacles to fine reception are cleared up.
At least one manufacturer in Chicago, the E. H. Scott
Radio laboratories, has already brought out a.n F-M receiver which,
the company cla.ims, delivers the full range of frequencies up to
15,000 cycles through a dual loudspeaker system. This company has
reported that already four out of five customers are buying F-M
sets in anticipation of true high fidelity programs.
xxxxxxxxxx
I AZORES' IS SHORf-WAVS LISTENING POST
Reception from the powerful short-wave stations on the
Atlantic seaboard of the United States is good, in the Azores accord¬
ing to U. S. Consul George E. Seltzer at St. Michael. The best re¬
ception however, it from the short-wave stations in London, Paris,
Berlin, and Rome. No difficulty is encountered in reception from
the stations in Moscow, Holland, Madrid and. in Lisbon. The best re¬
ception is obtained on 6, 9, 12, and 22 megacycles. There is no
broadcasting station and therefore no use for ultra short-waves.
XXXXXXXXXX
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AUgUSI/
FCC CHAIRMAN RETURNS FROM THE WEST
Chairman, James L. Fly, of the Federal Communications
Commission returned to Washington after attending the National
Broadcasting Association's Convention in San Francisco and in¬
specting numerous broadcasting stations in the West. Also the
Don Lee television station in Los Angeles. Mr. Fly said it was
a splendid convention, not only in attendance but in the general
attitude of working out problems in the public interest.
Mr. Fly said there had been no increase of program com¬
plaints, no sign of hysteria on the part of listeners, because of
the war. Asked if the broadcasters were working on a plan to ex¬
clude programs sponsored by foreign governments he said this had
not been brought to the attention of the Commission. Asked if
the FCC was checking up on Fifth Column complaints, Mr. Fly said
this work was going on about as usual. Asked if the finger prints
of radio operators would be submitted to the Department of Justice,
Mr. Fly said there was no reason to do this as the prints were
more for identification purposes by the Commission itself.
Mr. Fly said that the matter of a labor advisor to the
FCC was under consideration but as yet no one had been named. He
expressed satisfaction with the progress being made by the new
National Television Committee. Mr. Fly said this committee was
representative of the entire industry and that things were moving
along very well.
The Chairman, when asked if there was a tendency on the
part of stations to seek a boost in power in connection with the
National Defense orogram, said he had heard rumblings of that. No
date had been set for the putting in to effect of the North
American agreement reallocations but the FCC was working on that
problem also. Mr. Fly concluded by saying the Commission had not
yet taken up the Monopoly Report and there were no indications As
to when it would.
xxxxxxxxxx
I.TR. E. TO MEET AUG. 28-30
The annual convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers
will be held from Aug. 28 to 30 at Los Angeles, Calif. The pur¬
pose of the meeting is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas
through presentation of papers prepared by engineers in radio and
allied fields.
Among the papers to be offered are:
"Frequency Modulation, " Major Edwin H. Armstrong of Col¬
umbia University; "A 500-kilowatt High Efficiency Broadcast Trans¬
mitter, " G. L. Beers, RCA Manufacturing Co , "Television Receiver
Characteristics, 11 C. F Wolcott, Gilfillan Brother, Inc. , and
Portable Television Broadcasting," Harry R. Lubcke , Don Lee Broad¬
casting System.
XXXXXXXXXXX
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August 20, 1940
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL RCA FELLOWSHIP ESTABLISHED
A Fellowship for the investigation of biological pro¬
blems with the electron microscope recently developed in the RCA
research laboratories has been established in the National Re¬
search Council through funds provided by the RCA Manufacturing
Company .
With the RCA electron microscope it is possible to see
minute objects that are 20 to 50 times smaller than can be seen
with the finest optical microscope.
In considering candidates for what will be known as the
RCA Fellowship, the National Research Council will give preference
to "versatile young men of United States citizenship, who have
sound training in micro-biology, a doctor's degree (Ph. D or M. D. )
and a record of original work. 11 The RCA Fellowship is for the
year of 1940-41 and will carry a stipend! um of $3000. The work
will be carried on at the research laboratory of RCA at Camden, N.J.
"Our purpose in establishing the RCA Fellowship in the
National Research Council is two- fold, " said G-. K. Throckmorton,
President of the RCA Manufacturing Company. "One, to help further
pioneering research on biological problems that may lead to new
conquests in man's continual battle against disease. The other,
to develop the best technique for obtaining the fullest benefits
of this miraculous new instrument which is now available to re¬
search workers in all fields. "
With this insturment, it is possible to obtain useful
magnification of objects up to 100,000 diameters. Ordinarily,
useful magnification of objects under optical microscopes cannot
be achieved above 1500 diameters in ordinary light, or above 2500
diameters in ultra-violet light, because resolution, or sharpness
of definition, is lost beyond this point.
xxxxxxxxxx
NEW SAN FRANCISCO NBC SALES DIVISIONS
In keeping with the recent separation of the sales organ¬
ization of the National Broadcasting Company, KGO and KPO are
making a corresponding division in the San Francisco NBC offices.
Assistant Vice-President A1 Nelson, general manager of
the NBC Station in San Francisco, has just made this announcement
and has designated Gone Grant to head up the Blue Network group
and Harry Bucknell to have the corresponding position with rela¬
tion to the Red Network. Bill Ryan remains genera! sales manager.
This action follows a series of conferences between Nelson, Presi¬
dent Niles Trammel, Vice-President Ed Kobak and other executives
of NBC who were on the coast for the recent convention of the
National Association of Broadcasters. Bucknell was formerly office
manager and space buyer for Lord and Thomas in San Francisco. He
joined the Sen Francisco Chronicle as advertising oromotion manager
in 1934. XXXXXXXXXX
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AUgUSb £U,
NEW RULES GOVERNING FIXED RADIO SERVICES
The Commission on August 14, 1940, adopted the following
new rule governing the fixed radio services, effective Seotember
1, 1940:
"Sec. 6.37 Call letters, transmission of. Every point-
to-point telegraph and telephone station in the fixed public and
fixed public press services shall transmit three times in success¬
ion at half hourly intervals during each 24 hour period the iden¬
tifying call letters of the frequency or frequencies below 50,000
kilocycles on which transmissions a re taking place. This trans¬
mission shall be made within the period ten minutes before and
ten minutes after the hour and half hour under the following con¬
ditions :
Point-to-Point Telegraph Stations
(a) The transmission shall be made in international
Morse code utilizing either type A-l or type A-2 emission at a
transmission speed not to exceed twenty-five words per minute with¬
out the use of multiplexing, tape facsimile, printer or other
similar equipment or methods of operation during such period and
shall consist of transmitting the signal "QRA de " followed by
the call letters.
(b) Point-to-point telegraph stations engaged in a
radiophoto or an Addressed Program transmission shall not be re¬
quired to transmit identifying call letters during the period
when such identification would interrupt the continuity of the
program or radiophoto that is being transmitted. In any such
case the identifying call letters shall be transmitted, as out¬
lined above, immediately following the conclusion of the program
or radiophoto.
Point-to-Point Telephone Stations
(a) The transmission shall be made emoloying either type
A-l, A-2 or A-3 emission; provided, however, when utilizing type
A-l or A-2 emission the transmission shall be made in international
Morse code at a transmission speed not to exceed twenty-five words
per minute and shall consist of transmitting the signal "QRA de "
followed by the call letters. When utilizing type A-3 emission,
all privacy or secrecy devices shall be removed from the transmitter
input circuit during such period and the announcement shall be made
in the following order: "This is station (Call letters)."
(b) Point-to-point telephone stations continuously en¬
gaged in a public telephone message, radiophoto, or an Addressed
Program transmission shall not be required to transmit identifying
call letters during the period when such identification would inter¬
rupt the continuity of the message, radiophoto, or program that is
ceing transmitted. In any such case the identifying call letters
shall be transmitted, as outlined above, immediately following the
conclusion of the message, radiophoto, or program."
xxxxxxxxxx
- 11 -
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August 20, 1940
TRADE NOTES: :
Construction permit has been issued for a new station
to the Star Printing Company of Miles City, Montana, on 1310
kilocycles with 250 watts power unlimited time
Station WTAD at Quincy, Ill has been authorized to
operate on 900 kilocycles with 1 kilowatt power using directional
antenna at night.
There will be no meeting of the Federal Communications
Commission this week due to several vacation absences.
The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in its
series "World Ra.dio Markets" had just issued a report on Iceland
by U. S. Consul R. Borden Reams at Copenhagen.
Also as a part of the "World Radio" series the Bureau
has issued a copy of new radio regulations in Chile (new provisions
added to Article 84 and 108 of the Chilean regulations governing
radio communication in that country. )
sf -
H. M. Seville, Jr , director of research for the National
Broadcasting Company, New York, spoke at a special luncheon meeting
of the American Marketing Association on "Market Research in Radio"
in San Francisco. Beville made special explanation of the nation¬
wide postcard survey, about to be released. — —
Daylight Saving Time, also known as Summer Time, ends
in many parts of the United States on Sunday, September 29. On
that da.te, 3:00 a.m. , Eastern Daylight Saving Time will automatic¬
ally become 2:00a.m., Eastern Standard Time.
- 12 -
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
Thad Brown Hearings Believed Near End
8
Opposes FCC Investigation Service . 3
Is Mr. Willkie a Good Radio Speaker? . 3
WMCA-WRUL Cheer British . 5
International Operators Must Prove Citizenship . 6
FCC Sidesteps ASCAP Row . 6
American Sets Predominate India Since War . 7
Operators Citizenship Questions Answered . 7
WOR Transcriptions Aid Enlistments . 8
CBS Speeds Construction of New WABC 50,000-Watt Transmitter. ... 9
Fly Attends Elsa Maxwell Televise . 10
Many New FM Stations Planned . 11
Boys Compete For RCA Scholarships . 18
From the FCC Mail Bag . 18
Trade Notes . 13
No. 1860
August 23, 1940
THAD BROWN HEARINGS BELIEVED NEAR END
After continuing intermittently for the past two months
breaking all records in point of time that such an official has
been left dangling between heaven and earth it is believed the
end is in sight of the hearings to determine the fitness of Col.
Thad H. Brown to be reappointed to a 7 year, $10,000 a year term
on the Federal Communications Commission.
Sessions during the past week were cancelled because of
the active part Senator !!7heeler, Chairman of Interstate Commerce
Committee and others have had in the conscription debate. There
may be still more delays but it is predicted the committee may
make its report within another week or so.
Although Senator Charles W. Tobey ( R) of New Hampshire,
who thus far almost single handed has blocked the appointment of
Brown, also a Republican doesn't reveal his plans in advance, the
belief is only a few more witnesses will be heard in connection
with the RCA angle of the case. Whether former Senator George
H. Moses of New Hampshire mail be summoned if he doesn't come
forth voluntarily, seems to be largely up to Senator Tobey. There
again oddly enough both are Republicans and both from the same
state. Old political rivals in fact and to this has been attribut¬
ed Senator Tobey 's particular zeal in following up all the Moses
clues. Moses and a Republican colleague former Senator Daniel 0.
Hastings of Delaware were charged with being compensated in 1932
by the RCA for an attempt the Radio Corporation made to have an
anti-trust case continued then pending in the Federal Court at
Wilmington. Also there were other alleged pay-offs including
Federal Clerk of Court, Harry Mahaffy. Senator Hastings and
practically everyone else accused has testified, but up to this
writing, Senator Moses has not appeared.
Cnee the RCA angle is disposed of it is expected that
Col. Brown, whose term of office has long since expired and who
is no longer on the Government payroll, will be recalled and asked
regarding certain sensational developments in the RCA case of mrhich
Brown previously claimed to have no knowledge. That Col. Brown
will receive another scorching on the witness stand at the hands
of Senator Tobey is a foregone conclusion.
At that the impression gathered from the senators is
that Brown will probably be reported favorably by the Committee
and if so eventually confirmed by the Senate. Even so, it may not
be so easy to put the nominee over. "Col. Brown has embarrassed
the President and the Senators very much by hanging on" a high
official remarked to this -writer, "He could easily have avoided
_ & «
8/23/40
this embarrasnent not only to the Administration but to RCA, Col¬
umbia and the entire radio industry by quietly asking the Presi¬
dent to withdr w his name, but he has chosen to stick it out and
a terrible mess has resulted. "
Even if the Senate Committee reports the nomination
favorably it is believed Senator Tobey will later make a red hot
speech on the floor of the Senate against favorable action. If
so and the Republicans should win in the Fall, this might lay the
ground work for an investigation of the entire raxlio industry
next year. If we go into the war, however, this and most every¬
thing else would be sidetracked.
XXXXXXXXXX
OPPOSES FCC INVESTIGATION SERVICE
Vigorous objection to the new Investigation Service of
the Federal Communications Commission was raised by Representative
John Taber, (R) of New York, in discussing the large allotment
made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"Since this session of Congress began the Congress has
appropriated upward of $10,000,000 to J. Edgar Hoover, of the
F.B.I. to followup subversive activities," Representative Taber
declared addressing the House. "The other day the President
allocated out of the defense moneys, out of the $200,000,000 car¬
ried in the war bill, $1,600,000 to the Federal Communications
Commission, and they have set up a duplicating detective agency
under Mr. David Lloyd, formerly chief counsel of the La Follette
civil liberty committee, to followup "fifth columnists" in radio.
Mr. Edgar Hoover is doing that job; he has written about it in
the American magazine for August. It is perfectly ridiculous that
the President cannot cooperate with the Congress and keep faith
on national defense and stop wasting the money in that way. "
XXXXXXXXXX
IS MR. WILLKIE A GOOD RADIO SPEAKER?
Although this writer while admitting that Mr. Willkie
was no orator and entirely different than President Roosevelt,
was convincing as a radio speaker and though still a novice, had
succeeded in successfully projecting his personality and his
sincerity over the air in the Elwood speech, some others were not
so favorably impressed.
"The Willkie acceptance speech was better in the news¬
papers than it was on the air It must be read in type to be
appreciated. Whereas President Roosevelt’s remarks gain in effectt-
iveness by delivery over the air, Mr. Willkie ’ s lose." Raymond
Clapper wrote in the Scripps-Howard Newspapers.
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"The very real merits of the Willkie acceptance speech
were muffled by the sloppy delivery, with frequent stumbling and
slurring of words. The effect of this upon Republicans and Willkie
worshipers here at this small summer resort was one of pain end
disapointment. They had no specific suggestions as to the content
of the speech. They said that it somehow just didn't measure up,
didn't give them a thrill, didn't have the lift they had expected.
That was about ell one could get out of these friendly critics, but
inasmuch as they are all Roose velt-haters of long standing and had
been intensely proud of Willkie, I regard their reaction as a sig¬
nificant index. I found that some changed their opinion about the
speech after reading it in the newspapers the next morning, and
thought it far better than they had at first realized. "
"The fact is that Mr. Willkie is being judged, as was
Alf Landon 4 years ago, by the Roosevelt standard of radio crooning.
The middle- we stern homespun style doesn't appear to have the appeal
of the tailored Roosevelt speech. Mr. Roosevelt probably could have
taken the Willkie script and made it sing. This all seems silly to
me, but if people are going to be swayed by the cut of a radio voice,
then the fact has to be taken into account Mr. Willkie might well
hope that President Roosevelt ignores his challenge to joint debate.
\
"Radio circles confirm the general impression that
Wendall L. Willkie as a radio personality suffers greatly in com¬
parison with President Roosevelt, " according to "Variety. " "Opinions
are based on the acceptance spe ech by Willkie in El wood, Indiana,
which was broadcast by all the networks.
"Willkie1 s acceptance speech, however, got a rating from
the Co-operative Analysis of Broadcasting of 37.8. The percentage
represents 21,000,000 homes. It's the largest rating ever recorded
by the CAB on a political speech. Gov. Landon’ s acceptance spiel
in 1936 garnered a rating of 28. 5, and that was at 10:30 p.m. "
"CAB has never checked an acceptance speech of President
Roosevelt, but the highest he has received on a campaign talk (Oct.
10, 1936) was 24.6. President Roosevelt's Charlotts ville address
(June 10, 1940) drew a record 45.5. "
"It was noticeable that even the strong Willkie-ites on
the dailies commented Monda.y on the Republican candidates unfavorable
radio impression. General Hugh Johnson, once a New Dealer and now
jj columnist for the Scripps-Howard papers, which are definitely pro-
Willkie, stated th^t Willkie is doomed to failure next November un¬
less he greatly improves his radio stance. "
"Show biz in general is not greatly impressed by Willkie
after hearing his speech. Consensus is that he's a road-company
Franklin D. Roosevelt. "
m Arthur Krock, wrote in oart as follows in the New York
Times:
- 4
8/23/40
,!It happens that Mr. Willkie is a gifted and impressive
speaker when he is not hound by a prepared address. From rough
notes and from memory he can compose and deliver an impromptu ad¬
dress which has all the qualities and effects of high-grade oratory.
The necessities of Elwood did not permit the employment of this
talent. Each word was of the highest importance, and the microphone
and the radio were at hand to register any lapse of grammar or con¬
fusion of syntax. Also, by custom the speech must be general."
"The set of restrictions — and the intense heat — were
probably responsible for faults of delivery which no audience of
Mr. Willkie * s has ever noted before. When he gets down to specifi¬
cations, and can permit himself to ad lib. and put aside manuscript,
the probability is that the source of some of the disappointment ex¬
pressed after the Elwood speech will be eliminated. Mr. Willkie is a
very natural man who has been used to speaking without previous for¬
mal composition. The handicap of Elwood can easily, therefore, be
turned into an asset of the campaign. "
"Any persons, however, who have deprecated the value of
the "golden voice" and the Grot on- Harvard accent of the President
must now realize that these are politically effective. The President
is a masterly reader, which Mr. Willkie yet is not. Inquiry among
groups of the Republican candidate’s admirers after they had read
the speech — having expressed disappointment just after they heard it —
developed the general fact that it was delivery, not content, which
was really disturbing them. "
"For this popular devotion to a high elocutionary stan¬
dard the President's voice, accent and skill as a reader are respon¬
sible. Until he came to the national forum the public was content
with the Midwest slurrings of Mr. Harding, the Yankee twang of
Mr. Goolidge and the muffled tones of Mr. Hoover, his every sentence
ending on a downward note. But Mr. Roosevelt expanded faultless
oratory to the huge dimensions of the radio. Thus he made public
reception more difficult for a competitor. But in a debate released
from slavish fidelity to text, Mr. Willkie is himself a powerful
speaker of another school. This will surely be proved as the campaign
gets under way. "
xxxxxxxxxxx
WMCA-WRUL CHEER BRITISH
A series of inspirational talks addressed to the British
people in their "hour of trial" was introduced last Monday in New
fork by Station WMCA and the World Wide Broadcasting Foundation
through WRUL, its short-wave station in Boston. Entitled "Atlantic
friendship Bridge" the programs will be broadcast Mondays through
fridays at 4p.m. EST from studios at station WMCA at 1657 Broadway.
As master of ceremonies, Walter S. Lemmon, founder and president of
the foundation, gave the first message of "Helpfulness and reasurance.1'
ponald Flamm, president of WMAC, who donated use of the studios for
the series was the next to be heard. Other speakers were Gerald Cock,
American representative of the British Broadcasting Corporation in
New York; Raymond Gram Swing, commentator, and William Ruxton, presi¬
dent, and Mrs. Kirkbride, sec’y of British- American Ambulance Corps.
xxxxxxxxxx
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INTERNATIONAL OPERATORS MUST PROVE CITIZENSHIP
In order ho establish the citizenship status of employees
of radio-telegraph and cable companies handling international
communications, the Federal Communications Commission is enlist¬
ing the cooperation of such companies in having these workers fill
out a jointly-compiled questionnaire and furnish photographs and
fingerprint records This information is akin to that required of
commercial and amateur radio operators in connection with the co¬
ordinated national defense program.
Proof of citizenship and accompanying identification are
not desired of all communication company employees; but only of
those who, in the course of their duties, handle international
messages or have access to information passing over international
circuits. The need for such data was mutually agreed in recent
conferences between representatives of the companies and the
Commission.
It is estimated that about 30,000 employees are affected.
Companies concerned .are Commercial Pacific Cable Co. ; Commercial
Cable Co.; All America Cables and Radio, Inc.; Western Union Tele¬
graph Co. ; American Telephone and Telegraph Co. ; Mackay Radio and
Telegraph Co. ; Tropical Radio Telegraph Co. , and Radio Corpora¬
tion of America.
As a result of consultation with these companies, special
forms have been worked out for the purpose, Questionnaire for
Employees of Communications Companies, " and fingerprint and photo¬
graph record.
These forms will be supplied in number to each company
to take care of the necessary personnel. The companies have in¬
dicated that they will assist their respective employees to ex¬
ecute the forms with the least possible inconvenience. In certain
cases the local Federal Communications Commission office will send
men to offer facilities and other aid.
As in the case of commercial and amateur radio operators,
forms will be mailed to the Commission’s Washington officer for
permanent record. However, in the case of communnication company
employees the supervision of filling out the forms and mailing
them to the Commission will be under company direction, without
direct concact between the individual employee and the Commission.
This extension of proof-of-ci tizenship requirement is necessary
for effective policing of communications in the present emergency.
X X X X X X X X X X
FCC SIDESTEPS AS CAP ROW
Two letters from Michigan complain to the Federal Commu¬
nications Commission of alleged monopoly in the music publishing
field and of certain action by a radio station with respect to a
musicians’ union. The reply was that these are matters over which
the Commission has no jurisdiction.
XXXXXXXXXX
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8/23/40
AMERICAN SETS PREDOMINATE INDIA SINCE WAR
Pinas in India, according to the American Consulate,
Bombay, which prior to the present war had been handling German
radios, have recently received agencies from American and British
manufacturers. No fewer than 25 Anerican, 10 British, 4 German,
1 Netherland, and several Japanese makes are sold there.
The fairly large demand for radio receiving sets in this
district is supplied entirely by imports. During the year ended
March 1938, radio receiving sets imported into Bombay were valued
at 1,739,554 rupees ($655,811). In the 10 months ended January 51.
1940, imports of fully assembled radio sets into India were valued
at 1,970,787 rupees, of which the principal suppliers were the
United States (42 percent), the United Kingdom (29) and the Nether--
lands (20).
An idea of the size of the radio market can also be gain¬
ed from the fact that there are in British India approximately
90,000 licensed radio receiving sets, of which more than one- third
are believed to be in the Bombay district.
XXXXXXXXX
OPERATORS CITIZENSHIP QUESTIONS ANSWERED
The Federal Communications Commission has received many
inquiries for further information regarding its order to each radio
operator ~ commercial or amateur - a total of over 100,000 operators
to submit proof of citizenship - a national defense precaution.
The da.te now set for compliance with this order is September 15.
Instances have been reported to the Commission in the
many letters received in which an operator having theretofore be¬
lieved himself to be a citizen of the United States and having so
affirmed, discovered, that he was in fact an alien and was not and
had never been entitled to the license which he held. Under such
circumstances the only proper course of action the FCC advises is
to submit his license for cancellation, advising the Commission of
the circumstances. Furthermore, continued reliance upon a false
claim of citizenship would subject such persons to penalty by im¬
prisonment and fine under the Criminal Code which provides that
such penalties shall be imposed upon "whoever, for any fraudulent
purpose whatever, shall falsely represent himself to be a citizen
of the United States without having been duly admitted to citizen¬
ship. 11
Operators holding more than one license, such as a radio¬
telegraph and radiotelephone, or a commercial and an amateur class,
have inquired whether it is necessary to submit a separate response
for each such license. This is not necessa.ry.
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The order doqs apply to the holder of a radio operators
license or permit of any class. Thus, a person holding only a re¬
stricted radiotelephone operator permit or radiotelephone third
class should respond. Service in the military forces, police de¬
partments, or other organizations, does not exempt a licensee from
compliance .
Inquiries relating to the submission of valuable persona.!,
papers such as birth or baptismal certificates, na turalization
certificates, passposts, marriage certificates, etc., have also bee.-’,
received. Whenever possible original certificates and records
should be submitted to the Comission by registered mail. They will
be returned when they have served their purpose.
It should be noted, however, that it is unlawful to make
any copy of any certificate of naturalization or of derivative
citizenship. When it is impracticable or undesirable to forward
original naturalization or derivative citizenship certificates,
they may be presented for examination to any office of the Commiss¬
ion. In the alternative, where the operator has been issued a cer¬
tificate of naturalization or of derivative citizenship of the
notary public or other duly authorized official before whom the
response has been affirmed, stating over his seal that he has exam¬
ined the original certificate and found it to be accurately describ¬
ed in the response to the questionnaire and that he believes the
affiant to be the person named in such certificate.
Certificates of derivative citizenship may be obtained
upon application to the Department of Justice, Immigration and
Naturalization Service, Washington, D. C. It is unquestionably to
the advantage of any person who claims citizenship through natural¬
ization of parent or husband to obtain such a certificate. Although
the possession of a certificate does, the filing of an application
for such a certificate does not relieve the operator from submitting
to the Commission the other documentary evidence required.
In every case a person responding to the order should
submit completed forms including fingerprints taken by appropriate
officials. It is not acceptable to refer to fingerprints already
on file in some other Federal or State agency. Postmasters at
county seats or post officer of the first or second class may take
fingerprints.
xxxxxxxxx
WOR TRANSCRIPTIONS AID ENLISTMENTS
The WOR Transcription Service is recording four fifteen
minute disks of talks delivered by Col. Fra.nk Knox, secretary of
the Navy; Robert Patterson, assistant secretary of War; Col. Hugh
S. Johnson; and Col. Julius Ochs Adler, civilian aid to the Secre¬
tary of War. The transcribed talks which urge enlistment in the
Army and Navy and training camps, are sponsored by the Military
Training Camps Association and are being shipped to over 200 static-
to be aired as sustaining features.
XXXXXXXXX'
8/23/40'
CBS SPEEDS CONSTRUCTION OF NEW WA3C 50, 000- WATT TRANSMITTER
Construction of Station WABC : s new 50,000-watt trans¬
mitter on Little Pea Island in Long Island Sound has been ordered
full speed ahead by the Columbia.
Starting of actual construction of the $500,000 project
was made possible by completion of legal steps transferring title
of the land to CBS. Blasting operations to make way for building
of the great sea-walls for a new man-made island to hold the trans¬
mitter building and broadcasting tower were immediately put under
way.
Little Pea Island, acquired from the Hugenot Yacht Club,
is nothing more than a few jagged rocks projecting out of Long
Island Sound at high tide about a mile off New Rochelle. All
these rocks now projecting above water will be blasted away, and in
their place, an island 150 feet square will be built within concrete
walls extending 16-| feet above the water at mean low tide. And
upon this island will built the world's most modern transmitter and
broadcasting tower, replacing WABC ' s present transmitter at Wayne,
N. J.
Construction of a new transmitter for WABC was decided
upon by Columbia as a measure to improve its broadcasting service
to the public and to widen its listening area. Engineers, working
with maps, first ma.de a study to determine the ideal location for
a radio transmitter to serve metropolitan New York and the station' s
whole listening area. This study resulted in designation of one-
mile circle in Long Island Sound near New Rochelle.
The next step was to make a survey of this area by air¬
plane to determine the best available place within its limits to
build the broadcasting plant, and this survey resulted in selection
of Little Pea Island, within a fraction of a mile of the exact
center of the area originally outlined by the engineers.
The new site will afford WA3C*s signal a direct, sea¬
water path to the great Metropolitan area of New York, Long Island,
Westchester, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The ground
system will be immersed in Long Island Sound so that the body of
water becomes a pa.rt of the technical function of the station.
The transmitter itself will incorporate the latest proven
designs in broadcasting equipment. Housed in a ?5-foot square
building whose outside walls will be of copper, will be two complete
broadcasting units, one the regular 50, 000- watt transmitter, and the
other, a 5, 000- watt unit for emergency use. Electric power for
their operation will be supplied through two independent submarine
cables tying in with separate power plants to insure against any
interruption of service. In addition to these the plant will be
equipped with its own engine- driven generators as added insurance
against power failure.
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Elaborate safeguards have also been provided to insure
uninterrupted wire service carrying Columbia's programs from WABC ! s
master control board in New York City to the transmitter. Two
complete sets of program circuits will link the master control
board with the island through separate submarine cables.
Contracts for construction of the island and the trans¬
mitter building have been let to the W. J. Barney Construction
Company of New York, while the work of building the transmitting
equipment itself went to the Federal Telegraph Company of Newark,
N. J. Engineering is in charge of Lockwood Greene Engineers, Inc.
Columbia’s engineering department estimates that the new
plant will be in operation in about 10 months.
XXXXXXXXXX
FLY ATTENDS ELSA MAXWELL TELEVISE
Elsa Maxwell, the nation’s No.l party giver, introduced
525-line telerision to Southern California’s 500 home television
set owners last night and scored another triumph - this time for
science and art. An interested onlooker at the telecast which
featured the new step-up in television definition from the previous
441 --line quality was James L. Fly, Chairman of the Federal Commun-
i ications Commission, who was en route from the National Association
of Broadcasters at San Francisco to his headquarters at Washington.
While witholding comment, because of his official position
l the Commissioner was said to have indicated keen interest 'in the
intensive activities in research and production at the W6XA0 studies
of the Don Lee Television System.
Miss Maxwell made a personal appearance before the W6XA0
cameras in an interview — her first time on television. Later, in
another act, there appeared Gloria DeHaven, daughter of Carter De-
Haven, veteran actor. Twelve acts and two motion picture films
were the fare offered "lookers" who saw for the first time 525-line
television.
Thomas S. Lee, owner of W6XA0, one of the two most active
television stations in the United States, announced that Harry R.
Lubcke, Director of Television, had achieved a tremendous task in
stepping up the transmitter to the higher definition without more
than a twenty-four hour lapse in transmission time. Thus the station
will continue its f ourteen~hours-and~a-half-a-week schedule without
further interruption throughout the summer.
XXXXXXXXXX
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MANY NEW FM STATIONS PLANNED
The following is a list of groups that have filed appli¬
cations with the Federal Communications Commission to construct FM
stations within the next few months:
Star-Times Publishing Co., St. Louis, Missouri 43.1
megacycles, to cover 9,900 sq. miles. James F. Hopkins, Inc.,
Detroit, Mich. 46.5 megacycles, to cover 3,050 sq. miles. Marcus
Loew Booking Agency (WHN), New York City 43.5 megacycles, to cover
12,949 sq. miles. Baton Rouge Broadcasting Co., Baton Rouge, La.
Station on 44.1 megacycles, to cover 8,100 sq. miles. The Journal
Company (WTMJ), Milwaukee, Wis. 43.9 megacycles to cover 15,642 sq.
miles. (The Milwaukee Journal currently operates FM station W9XA0.
50,000-watt transmitter expected to reach 60% of the population of
Wisconsin, operating 17 hours a da.y. )
The Chicago Tribune (WG-N), Chicago, Ill. 44.3 mega cycle
to cover 16,822 sq. miles. (50,000- watt FM station having a range
up to 100 miles from Chicago. The antenna will be 20 miles outside
of Chicago.) Moody Bible Institute (WMBI) Chicago, Ill. 43.9 mega¬
cycles to cover 15,300 sq. miles. (50,000-watt transmitter.)
WBNS, Inc., Columbus, Ohio. 43.1 megacycles, to cover 12,400 sq.
miles. (WBNS is already operating FM experimental station W8XVH.
The new transmitter will have 10,000 watts of power.) Alexandria
Broadcasting Co., Inc. (KALB), Alexandria, La. 43.3 megacycles, to
cover 3,025 sq. miles. Howitt-Wood Radio, (WBNF), Binghampton, N.Y
44.1 megacycles, to cover 18,000 sq. miles. Evansville on the Air,
Inc., (WGBF-WEOA), Evansville, Ind. 43.7 megacycles, to cover 8,397
sq. miles. (10, 000- watts. )
Zenith Radio Corporation, Chicago, Ill. 43.5 megacycles,
to cover 10,760 sq. miles. (Zenith already operates the only ex¬
perimental FM transmitter in the Chicago area. The new station
will have 4,500,000 people within listening range.) The Evening
News Association (WWJ), Detroit, Mich. 43.1 megacycles, to cover
25,280 sq. miles. (There will be 5,641,000 people in the region
covered by this station.) The Outlet Company, (WJAR), Providence,
R.I. 44.3 megacycles, to cover 16,370 sq. miles. (A population of
6,263,000 is in this area. Radio Service Corp. of Utah, (KSL),
Salt Lake City 44.7 megacycles, to cover 623 sq. miles. John Lord
Booth, (WMBC) , , Detroit, Michigan on 44.1 megacycles, to cover
4,400 sq. miles.
National Broadcasting Company, New York City 43.9 mega¬
cycles to cover 16,880 sq. miles. (NBC currently operates W2XWG-
from the top of the Empire State Building in New York. This new
station will replace it, and be capable of reaching an audience
estimated at 15,524,000.) The Yankee Network, Boston, Mass. 43.9
megacycles, to cover 35,500 sq. miles. (This is the Yankee Net¬
work^ second station operating with FM, and will be located atop
the 6000-foot crown of Mount Washington in the White Mountains oZ
New Hampshire, highest point east of the Rockies. It is expected
that installation may be completed before winter sets in. )
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The Travelers Broadcasting Service Corp. (ITIC) Hart¬
ford, Conn. 43.9 megacycles, to cover 14,768 sq. miles. (ITIC
currently operates an experimental FM station, W1XS0. The new
transmitter will service a central New England region with a
population of 4,893,00 0. )
Commercial Radio Equipemtn Co., Kansas City, Mo. 44.9
megacycles, to cover 2,995 sq. miles. WJJD, Inc., Chicago, Ill.
44.7 megacycles, to cover 3,700 sq. miles. (This FM station,
fourth to be applied for in the Chicago area, is expected to reach
a metropolitan population of 4,051,000 listeners.)
xxxxxxxxxx
BOYS COMPETE FOR RCA SCHOLARSHIPS
Eleven future scientists are beginning the final lap
in a competition which will bring to one of them a prize of a
$4000 tuition and maintenance scholarship in a leading engineering
college. The boys, June high school graduates, will spend the re¬
mainder of August in New York and Camden, N. J. , in a study of the
laboratory and engineering facilities of the Radio Corporation of
America, sponsors of the competition, and its service companies,
the RCA Victor and R. C. A. Communications.
These boys were chosen from more than 2500 entrants in
every state. The competition was so keen that, while only ten all¬
expense trips to New York were offered for preliminary winners, the
judges found it necessary to increase the number. A comprehensive
course of instruction in radio engineering and design, broadcasting
and communication technique, as well as a wide variety of carefully
chosen recreational features, has been planned. At the end of the
month each of the ten boys who miss the big scholarship prize will
be given an award of $100.
XXXXXXXXXX
FROM THE FCC MAIL BAG
A San Francisco woman requests the Communications Com¬
mission aid in having broadcast stations assist her in locating her
missing father. The Commission is not authorized to require radio
stations to make particular announcement of this sort. However, it
suggests that the woman communicate direct with the broadcast sta¬
tions located in her vicinity, and at the same time ask the local
police authorities for further advice and assistance.
XXXXXXXXXX
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8/23/40
TRADE NOTES
An application has been made by WFVD, the Debs Memorial
Radio Fund Station in New York, to increase its power from 1 to 5
kilowatts and to move the transmitter from Brooklyn to New York City.
A Pennsylvania woman wants all broadcasting to be dis¬
continued by the FCC until peace returns to the world.
K3D, owned by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, requests the
Commission to increase its power to 5 kilowatts day and night, to
install a new transmitter, new directional antenna for night use, and
to move transmitter to approximately 3 miles west of Columbia, Ill.
RCA Communications, Inc., has been granted temporary
authority to communics/te with the Government stations FYN and FYR
at Vicky, France.
Numerous persons requesting the 1300-page Monopoly report
on chain broadcasting made by a committee of the Commission a.re in¬
formed that only a limited number of copies were mimeographed, and
the supply has long since been exhausted. The of ficial . record is,
however, open to public inspection at the Commission’s Washington
offices.
ASCAP affixes to each letter in its outgoing mail one of
the new Victor Herbert stamps. In the left-hand corner of the en¬
velope, where the address of the Society usually is, with an arrow
pointing to the stamp, is printed, ” Victor Herbert, Founder of the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers . N
A Philadelphia man thinks he is entitled to a prize from
one of the radio contest programs.
13 -
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
legal department
It? 11
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1 1 3 '340
I
INDEX TO ISSUE OF AUGUST 27, 1940
Probe Doubtful Now; May Start Something Later . 2
Denies False RCA Report Intent . 3
Would Know Who Pays Commentators . 4
Defense Committee Selection Rests With President . .....5
German Television Progress Reported Rapid . . . ..6
Radio Plan To Force Roosevelt-Willkie Debate Suggested . 7
Press Survey Shows Willkie Far Ahead of F. D. R . 7
CBS to Build New International Station . ,8
I.T. A T. Completely Reinstated in Spain . 9
RCA Communications Service Emblems Awarded . 10
Trade Notes . 11
No. 1261
■
'
August 27, 1940
PROBE DOUBTFUL NOW; MAY START SOMETHING- LATER
After grinding along intermittently for almost eleven
weeks, when in the beginning a guess that the matter would require
eleven days would have seemed extravagent, the hearings of the
Senate Commerce Committee to decide whether or not Col. Thad Brown
should be reappointed to the Federal Communications Commission wound
up with a bang by Senator Charles W. Tobey ( R) of New Hampshire
introducing in the Senate a resolution calling for a Congressional
investigation of the radio industry and the administration of the
Federal Communications Commission.
The purpose of the inquiry, the resolution stated, would
be to determine whether there is a monopoly in the industry and to
consider the manner in which radio stations are licensed by the FCC.
Senator Tobey also released copies of letters to members of the FCC
asking them to list for public record the "gifts” favors and other
emoluments" they have received from radio companies.
Considerable doubt was expressed as to whether or not an
investigation of the radio industry would get any where this session
because of the war situation, the uncertainty of adjournment and the
anxiety of members to get back to their districts for the campaign.
""It all depends upon whether Senator Burton K. Wheeler,
(D), Chairman of the Senate interstate Commerce Committee, puts his
shoulder to the wheel on the resolution whether or not the resolution
will be pressed" a Senator said to this writer. "I should say the
chances are against it. "
If the Tobey resolution fails this session it would have
to be re-introduced to be considered by the new Congress next January.
In any case, particularly if the Republicans gain strength in the
November election, it seems certain that sooner or later there will
be a searching inquiry of the radio industry such as the resolution
calls for.
The resolution which Senator Tobey offered by unanimous
consent and which was referred to the Committee on Interstate Commerce
was as follows:
"Resolved, That the Committee on Interstate Commerce, or
any duly authorized subcommittee thereof, is authorized and directed
to make a full and complete investigation with respect to (1) the
existence, extent, formation, legality, and effect upon the public or
£-ny individual or group, of any monopoly in radio broadcasting or
pny phase thereof or in the production, sale or distribution of radio
receiving or broadcasting apparatus;
- 2 -
8/27/40
(2) the administration by the Federal Communications Commission of
those provisions of the manner to radio communication; (3) th ::
manner of exercise by licensees of the Federal Communications
Dies Ion of the privileges conferred upon them by their licensee
from the Federal Communications Commission; (4) the effect upon tb. -
public interest of any contract pertaining to radio to which any
such licensee or any broadcasting network is a party; and (5) any
attempts made by any such licensee, broadcasting network, or any
person, company, or corporation engaged in any business relating
to radio, or by any attorney, agent, or representative of any such
licensee, network, person, company, or corporation , to unduly in¬
fluence any public official in the exercise of his duties with re¬
spect to any matter pretaining to radio. The committee shall report
to the Senate, at the earliest practicable date, the results of its
investigation, together with its recommendations, if any, for neces¬
sary legislation. "
’•For the purposes of this resolution, the committee, or
any duly authorized subcommittee thereof, is authorized to hold such
hearings, to sit and act at such times and places during the sessions
recesses, and adjourned periods of the Seventy-sixth and succeeding
Congresses, to employ such clerical and other assistants, to require
by subpena or othervn.se the attendance of such witnesses and the
production of such correspondence, books, papers, and. documents, to
administer such oaths, to take such testimony, and to make such
expenditures as it deems advisable. The cost of stenographic ser¬
vices to report such hearings shall not be in excess of 25 cents
per hundred words. The expenses of the committee which shall not
exceed $25,000, shall be paid from the contingent fund of the, Senate
upon vouchers approved by the chairman. "
XXXXXXXXX
DENIES FALSE RCA REPORT INTENT
Testifying on the last day of the Thad Brown hearings,
J. Austin Smith, New York financial analyst, denied before the Sen¬
ate Interstate Commerce Committee a statement of Chairman Burton K.
Viheeler that a report he prepared on the Radio Gorp. of America, was
intended to be false. Chairman D'/heeler asserted that Mr. Smith’s
previous testimony had demonstrated that a man could be employed to
get out any kind of a report and insisted the report was not a true
picture of the affairs of the corporation and was intended to be
false .
Mr. Smith had testified he was emoloyed by Patrick A. Pow¬
ers, described as a retired moving picture executive, to write a
report on R. C. A. It has oeen charged the report was inaccurate and
»ould make it possible for Mr. Powers to make a connection with the
radio compa.ny.
Mr. Powers, however, told the committee that Mr. Smith
-..nitiated the action which resulted in the preparation of the report.
ne denied he employed Mr. Smith for the purpose of prepa.ring a color¬
ed report.
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The Committee heard from Powers what purported to be
something of how Joseph P. Kennedy, United States Ambassador to
Great Britain, amassed part of his fortune.
According to the testimony, Kennedy bought several
thousand shares of moving picture stock early in 1928 at $5 per
share and within the next day or two sold the same stock to R. C.A.
at $25 per share. It was alleged that Kennedy had made the arrange
raents to sell the stock at $25 before he bought it at $5.
This, of course, was several years before Kennedy took
over the chairmanship of the Securities and Exchange Commission for
the New Deal and began policing the Stock Exchange.
Powers said the deal involved half the outstanding stock
of the Film Booking Office, a motion-picture distributing firm.
Kennedy thereupon sold the stock to R. C. A. Powers continued, and
the Film Booking Office was merged with the Keith-Albee chain of
motion picture houses as part of an amaigamation that resulted in
the formation of Radio Keith Orpheum, familiarly known as RKO.
This wound up the testimony in the R. C.A4- angle of the
Brown confirmation inquiry. It was siad the Senate Committee would
have an executive session at an early date at which time a vote
would be taken on Ccl Brown's fitness to be reappointed to the FCC.
xxxxxxxxxx
WOULD KNOW WHO PAYS COMMENTATORS
There was an exchange on the floor of the Senate between
Senator Rush D. Holt (D) of West Virginia and Senator Charles W.
Tobey (r) of New Hampshire on the subject of radio commentators as
follows :
Mr. Holt. "I have taken a great deal of interest in
listening to the radio night after night, expecially the news broad¬
casts, and I find that there is a deliberate premeditated effort
not only on the part of some of the radio commentators, but on the
part of the present administration to try to tie up our hope with
that of France; in other words, to make people feel that we are
going to fall as France fell. "
Mr. Tobey. "I wish to point out that in my judgement
there is no factor more potent in controlling and influencing public
opinion than the radio. As the Senator said, night after night
these commentators come into the homes and influence the minds of
the American people. Their names have become almost household words.
We know that Mr. So-and-so and commentator, is announced to speak.
What does he do? He holds before us in subtle language the poss¬
ibilities ahead of us. He inculcates in the minds of the people
the need for conscription, the need for giving England our destroyers
the dangers of our being attacked by Germany; he decries delay by
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senatorial 'debate. So he goes on using the power of suggestion
adroitly conceived and worded.
"If such a gentleman is retained and hired by some great
oil company, for instance, which has extensive interest abroad, and
which holds in its heart the damnable doctrine that the American
flag should follow the dollar, I think the public ought to know
about it, but it does not. All we know is that this eminent com¬
mentator comes on the air and reasons with the American people,
with his power of suggestion and adroit eloquence, and seeks to
stir them up with philosophies that may be un-American, that may be
propaganda, end he* is paid for doing so by some great oil concern,
or some other great commercial company.1'
"I demand now, in the interest of fair play and unbiased
public opinion, that we should know, by definite statement over the
radio preceding these commentators, who is paying for them, and what
they are being paid. "
XXXXXXXXX
DEFENSE COMMITTEE SELECTION RESTS WITH PRESIDENT
At a press conference last Monday (Aug. 26) Chairman
James L. Fly, of the Federal Communications Commission said that
the selection of the National Defense Communications Committee is
now up to President Roosevelt. When asked the status of the recom¬
mendations of the FCC regarding the Committee, Mr. Fly said that
his impression was that no serious question had developed on this.
He declared it was largely a communications matter involving the
relation of all services to the national defense.
Mr. Fly said there was nothing in the project to cause
concern to the broadcasters. He believed the announcement of the
membership of the committee might be made in about a week.
Asked regarding the status of the North American Regional
Broadcast Reallocations, the Chairman said that he was studying the
FCC engineers recommendations. He didn't know what the other com¬
missioners were doing in the matter.
Sometime ago there was criticism that the television
people were lacking in certain rudiments in staging productions.
For instance it was noted that a man in a dark suit was shown a -
gainst a dark background and there was a lack of contrast. Comment¬
ing upon this, Mr. Fly said while in the West recently he had visit¬
ed certain motion picture studios and had noticed the high effic¬
iency of their stagecraft. He hoped that possibly the television
producers might profit by this knowledge and perhaps even find a
w&y to utilize some of this material.
xxxxxxxxxx
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GERMAN TELE VI SIGN PROGRESS REPCPTED RAPID
Despite the war there has been rapid progress in tele¬
vision in Germany according to the German Library of Information
which reports as follows,
11 The transmission of voice and music from one corner of
the world to another has long been taken as a matter of course.
However, it is only in the last few years that television has been
regarded as more than a fantastic dream. That this new wonder has
progressed from the realm of fancy to that of reality in so short
a time has been due largely to the painstaking work of Germany’s
foremost scientists and engineers. "
’’The first important television invention, a rotating
disc with holes arranged in spiral form for dissecting pictures
into points, was made as early as 1885 by Paul Nipkow, a. young
Pomeranian engineer. However, not until 40 years later were prac¬
tical television experiments carried out. The first public trans¬
mission was given in 1929 by German broadcasting stations, thus
making Germany the first country in the world to develop and per¬
fect a television system for its own use. "
"Since then, progress has been rapid. The first event
of world-wide importance to be "televised" was the 1936 Olympics
in Berlin. The German television exhibit was the major scientific
attraction at the Paris World' s Fair a year later. "
"Since that time, and even since the outbreak of war,
German research has forged on toward the ultimate perfection of
this new scientific miracle, as is graphically illustrated by the
photographs on these pages. "
"No small difficulty confronting the engineers and
scientists was the fact that in order to televise to the entire
country it would be necessary to construct and maintain more tele¬
vision sending stations then the existing number of radio broad¬
casting stations. Furthermore, ordinary television transmission
depends upon short waves, and short waves are almost wholly absorb¬
ed by radio transmission. For this reason, experiments were mede
in sending television pictures through subterranean or submarine
cables Television has already operated between Berlin and various
distant cities, such as Leipzig, Munich and Nuremberg by such means.
"The infant science was advanced still further in Germany
when two new sending stations were built on the summit of the Broc¬
ken, one of the Harz Mountain peaks, and on the Feldberg in the
Black Forest in Southern Germany. At such high altitudes— more
than 3,300 feet — television waves have uninterrupted play for at
least 65 miles in every direction."
XXXXXXXXXX
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8/27/40
RADIO PLAN TO FORCE ROOSEVELT- WILLKIE DEBATE SUGGESTED
If Mr. Willkie desired to force a debate with. President
Roosevelt he could ask time on the air after the next Fireside chat
David Lawrence, the syndicate writer, suggests. Mr. Lawrence
reasons it thus:
’’Wendell Willkie can have his debate with President Roose¬
velt and without asking the latter’s consent either. It would
differ slightly from what was originally proposed, but for all
practical purposes the American people could hear both candidates
on the same evening and one could answer the arguments of the other,
’’The device is a simple one, in fact it was used in the
Lan don- Roosevelt compaign in 1*936, so there’s a precedent for it.
When President Roosevelt, for example, makes his next fireside
chat, Mr. Willkie can ask all major radio companies in advance that
Phe be permitted to have an equal amount of time on the air immediate
ly following the President. ”
"No manuscript of the President’s remarks would of course
be provided Mr. Willkie so he would be just like any other listener.
He could make his notes as he listened to the speech and immediately
he would be given the chance for an extemporaneous speech. "
"This method would be fair because it would give both
candidates the same audience and the people would be given an oppor¬
tunity to hear both sides of a controversy."
"It might be suggested that to grant time to a Republican
candidate or, to any one else to answer the President of the United
States would be a discourtesj} to the latter, but the fact is in a
political compaign the broadcasting companies, having announced
that they would sell time, cannot logically refuse to sell to any
political committee which wants to buy it. In fact the language of
the Federal statute governing the use of radio specifically pro¬
vides that candidates must be given an opportunity to obtain the
same facilities for reply as are given to any other candidate."
XXXXXXXXXX
PRESS SURVEY SHOWS WILLKIE FAR AHEAD OF F.D.R.
A survey of the newspapers of the United States made by
the Editor and Publisher shows the following:
"Wendell L. Willkie has the editorial support of 66.3% of
the country’s daily newspapers as of August 21; Franklin D. Roose¬
velt is supported by 20.1%*; 13.5% have either declared themselves
neutral or have not yet announced a choice between the major candi¬
dates for the Presidency of the United States. These precentages
7
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8/27/40
are “based upon answers by 1,000 of the country's 1,888 newspapers
to three questions asked by Editor and Publisher. The questions
were *
1. Did you support Roosevelt against Hoover in 1932?
2. Did you support Roosevelt against London in 1936?
3. Which candidate is receiving your support this year?
"The replies, tabulated up to August 21, cover 54.5%
of the entire daily newspaper press. "
"The proportion favoring Mr. Willkie is far smaller
than the eatimates which have been published in recent weeks.
These have usually put 90% of the dailies in Willkie ' s column.
Mr. Willkie ' s present advantage — 66.3% — is considerably greater
than Mr. Roosevelt in newspaper preference four years ago. The
usual claim of Mr. Roosevelt's friends has been that his landslide
election was accomplished in the face of the opposition of 85 to
86% of the daily newspapers. "
"A cursory survey made by Editor and Publisher immediate¬
ly after the 1936 election proved that Mr. Landon did not have
the active support of more than 67 to 70% of the dailies, and that
Mr. Roosevelt's cause had been advocated, by 30 to 33%. On the
basis of the survey published this week, it appears that Mr. Landon'
following was only 60.4% of the daily papers while Mr. Roosevelt
had 34.5%, and 5% were not committed to either. Later returns to
these questions are more likely to increase than decrease the
proportion favoring the President for re-election in 1936. "
XXXXXXXXX
CBS TO BUILD NEW INTERNATIONAL STATION
Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. , has been granted
construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission for
a new international broadcasting station to be located at Brent¬
wood, N.Y. , and use 50 kilowatts, the minimum power ruled by the
commission necessary for satisfactory international service.
Columbia has an application pending to move WCBX, another
CBS international station to Brentwood, and increase the power of
that station from 10 to 50 kilowatts. It also has understanding
with its affiliate WCAB now operated by the WCAV Broadcasting
Company at Philadelphia that the latter, now operating on 10 kilo¬
watts, will transfer facillities to Columbia and discontinue opera¬
tion. Stations WCAB and. WCBX have had a working arrangement to
provide simultaneous program service to Europe and South America.
While one station directed programs to Europe the other delivered
programs to South America. It is intended to continue this plan
by the use of two stations at the Brentwood location.
XXXXXXXXX
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I.T.& T. COMPLETELY REINSTATED IN SPAIN
Final steps in the complete reinstatement of the Inter¬
national Telephone and Telegraph Corporation in the management of
its Spanish subsidiary, the Compania Telefonica. Nacional de
Esioana, which operates the Spanish national local and long dis¬
tance telephone system, were taken at a meeting of the Board of
Directors of the C. T.N.E. in Madrid last week, at which four
Americans were elected directors, making a total of five American
representatives of the IT&T on the Board. At the same meeting
American appointees for key executive positions were selected,
and five new Spanish directors were chosen.
Colonel Sosthenes Behn, President of the International
Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, who has been in Spain for
several months, successfully conducted the negotiations which
have resulted in the IT&T resuming the same status in the Spanish
company as before the war.
When civil war broke out in Spain in July 1936, the
Spanish Government, in accordance with the provisions of its con¬
tract with the IT&T, immediately took over the operation of the
C. T.N.E. telephone system, which covers the entire country. Al¬
though the corporate interest of the IT&T in its Spanish company
has never been questioned, it was felt by the new Spanish Gov¬
ernment after the close of the war that it was desirable for the
management to continue in their own hands through the early per¬
iod of reconstruction. With the election of the American mem¬
bers of the board and the appointment of the American executives,
full control reverts to the IT&T.
Americans on the board of the Compania Telefonica
Nacional de Espana are F. T. Caldwell, M. A. Sunstrom, E. N.
Wendell, A. F. Clement, and G. H. Dennis. New Spanish directors
are Jose Bertram y Musitu, Ignacio Satrustegui, Jesus Rivero,
Jesus Maranon and Eugenio Barroso.
There are three directors on the board named by the
Spanish Government; one from the Treasury Department, one from
the War Department and one from the Department of Communication.
F. T. Caldwell, who was Executive Vice President before the
hostilities, has been selected for the same position. G. H.
Dennis is to be Comptroller, E. N. Wendell, Chief Engineer, and
other Americans will be in charge of the Construction, Mainten¬
ance and Commercial Departments.
The C. T. N. E. was organized by the IT&T in 1924 to
build up and operate the Spanish national telephone system. The
large and continued program of reconstruction and expansion init¬
iated in that year brought the total number of telephones operated
by the company in Spain up to 346,032 immediately prior to the
conflict. This number has been reduced during the period of dis¬
turbance by about 40,000.
XXXXXXXXX
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RCA COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE EMBLEMS AWARDED
Gold emblems have been presented to all RCAC staff mem¬
bers having twenty or more years of service. The presentation
was made today by William A. Winterbottoin, Vice President and
General Manager.
Although fi. C.A. Communications, Inc. was organized
only eleven years ago, its parent company — the Radio Corporation
of America — was organized late in 1919. At that time RCA took
over the plant and personnel of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph
Company of America. Because of this, many of our present employ¬
ees have been employed continuously in this group for more than two
decades.
Heading the list of veterans is Charles T. Taylor, who
joined in 1902. Mr. Taylor has been Vice President in Change of
Engineering since 1929. Algeron Cruttenden is second with thirty-
five years.
David Sarnoff, President, is third with thrity-three ,
and Samuel Campbell is fourth. Although Mr. Campbell also has
thirty-three years of service to his credit, Mr. Sarnoff1 s employ¬
ment with the Marconi Company began four days previously.
In making the distribution, Mr. Winterbottom , speaking
for the Board of Directors, the new RCAC publication Relay reports,
said: "The success of our organization is due in no small part
to the loyalty and efficiency of this group of employees, of whom
you are one, and I should like to ttake this opportunity to con¬
gratulate $cou upon having achieved this distinction and to commend
you for your loyal service. "
"It is my hope and belief, " Mr. Winterbottom continued,
"that you will wear it with pride, just as we are proud to have
you working with us for the continued success of the Company. 11
The solid gold emblem is about three-quarters of an inch
long, with a ruby in its lower point.
xxxxxxxxx
To prove that everything is possible in radio, WMAC
announces that it will be on the air nightly for the next ten days
from 1:30 AM until 6:60 AM broadcasting a "program of silence."
It's part of a test for WMCA' s new 5000 watt da.y and 1000 watt
night transmitter just completed at Kearny, N. J.
XXXXXXXXX
10
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TRADE NOTES
The Chicago Federation of Labor Station, WCFL, now using
5 kilowatts, has asked permission to double its power and to changp
its hours of operation from unlimited time experimentally to un¬
limited time . •
A power boost to 5 kilowatts has been granted WDRC of
Hartford.
Extensions of authority to transmit network programs from
the United States via RCA Communications, Inc., to Station CMX in
Havana has been granted to NBC.
I
The Indianapolis plant of the Radio Corporation of America
will be increased by 400,000 square feet of floor space, doubling
the area now available for the manufacture of phonograph and radio
parts, it was announced today. The addition will increase the
company’s pay roll by $3,000,000 annually. — .
Station WTNJ at Trenton, N. J. , has asked to change its
frequency to 123- kc, increase its power to 1 kilowatt, unlimited
time and move transmitter to Edgewood - Yardley, Yardley, Pa.
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
'•* •**/*•• » * r
LEGAL DtPARl WIENT
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I
INDEX TO ISSUE OF AUGUST 30, 1940
FCC Clears Up Amateur Order . 2
Brazilian Announcers Must Be Native Born . . . . 2
Record Overseas Radio Phone Calls . 3
Note. . . 4
• — Crosley to Buils New $100,000 Television Station . 4
Plan Drafted to Train CCC in Radio. . ...4
Warns Stations Could be Seized in Conscription . . . 5— —
Diathermy Interference Jeopardizes Defense Services . .....5
Thad Brov/n Confirmation Again Blocked . ,.8
FCC Labor Legal Advisor Appointed . 8
National Television Groups to Meet . 8
Willkie Listens to McNary Over Portable . .9
A. C. & R. C. Nets $643,246 First Nine Months . 9
WMCA to Offer Radio Apprenticeship Courses . 10
Church of Air Enters Tenth Year . 10
FCC Attorneys1 Applications Approved . 11
Foreign Language Broadcasts Recording Urged . 11
>*» CB S Color Televising Shown FCC . . . 11
WLW Engineers Good at Farming Also . 12
Trade Notes . 13
August 30, 1940
FGC CLEARS UP AMATEUR ORDER
There has been unnecessary confusion in some minds ac¬
cording to the Commission, regarding the Federal Communications
Commission Order sometime ago, restricting the use of portable
and portable-mobile radio equipment by amateurs.
The new order (No. 73A) does not in any sense rescind
the original order but merely makes it possible for amateurs to
continue the development and testing of equipment designed and
built for the sole purpose of emergency use. This relaxation of
the original order does not, and was not intended to, authorize
the use of emergency equipment for routine amateur communications.
It was made in the realization that effective emergency communica¬
tion can only be based on prior experience, including personnel
and equipment, all thoroughly coordinated into a communication
network. Any extension of the new order to cover the use of regu¬
lar portable or portable-mobile equipment under the guise of
"testing for emergency purooses" is an unwarranted and unauthorized
stretching of the letter of the order.
A Commission press release, authorizing the moving of
amatuer stations from one fixed location to another, was not intend¬
ed to permit short-period operation from a location other than
that noted in the station license. It is difficult to draw an
absolute dividing line between what is considered a "summer resi¬
dence, " and what is not, but week-ends or short vacation periods
do not constitute "summer residences. " On the other hand, a move
to a summer cottage for a four-month period could be considered a
"summer residence. "
The press release, the Commission explanation includes,
was a convience to permit amateurs to continue operation even though
they might move from one fixed location to another in routine civil
life. It was not contemplated as a means whereby amateurs could
operate their stations from week-end vacation location, or similar
situations definitely restricted under the original order.
XXXXXXXXXX
BRAZILIAN ANNOUNCERS MUST BE NATIVE BORN
The American Embassy at Rio de Janeiro has reported that
the Brazilian Minister of Communications has ruled that all radio
announcers in Brazil must be native-born Brazilian citizens.
XXXXXXXXXX
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RECORD OVERSEAS RADIO PHONE CALLS
With a total of nearly 2000 messages for the month of
June, traffic over the Bell System’s radio telephone circuits to
South America and across the Pacific broke all previous records,
according to figures compiled by the Overseas Service staff on
the Long Lines Department. 'Traffic on these routes during July
indicated that the volume for that month would equal or exceed
the June record. Current figures also show that despite the sharp
drop in transatlantic business due to the imposition of military
censorships, overseas traffic generally is less than fifteen per
cent below what it was a year ago.
The growth in South American and Transpacific telephone
traffic has been steady since last fall. South American business
is at present averaging about three times ?4iat it did last year
at this time, while Transpacific business is more than double the
figure for the corre spending period last year. . Traffic with con¬
tinental European countries with which service is still available
has doubled over what it was a year ago. It is of interest also
that traffic in the Caribbean region— the West Indies, Central
America, and the northern part of South America — has grown about
eighty per cent in the past twelve months.
At the outbreak of the' of the war, military restrictions
abroad shut off all private and commercial telephone service with
Great Britain and continental Europe. Great Britain and France
continued to accept government and press calls. Within ten days,
however, general service to continental Europe, except France, was
restored over two new circuits to Europe. A New York-Rome circuit,
already under construction, was rushed to completion. Also arrange¬
ments were made speedily with the Netherlands for a temporary cir¬
cuit between New York and Amsterda.ro. . Although the establishment
of such circuits usually requires many months, this channel was in
operation within a week.
While the Amsterdam circuit is no longer operating, two
other circuits to continental Europe have been recently set up so
that today Europe can be reached by direct circuits to Rome, Bern
and Berlin. In some cases this gives two different routes to a
country .
At the present writing Bell System overseas telephone ser¬
vice with Europe includes Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Great Britain
Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Roumania, Sweden,
Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. As yet, the service has not been re¬
stored to France, Belgiuip, Holland, Norway, Denmark and Spain.
The New York-Paris circuit is still shut down. In the
case of Great Britain, Roumania and Italy the service is limited to
government and press calls. Practically all countries permit broad¬
casting by news commentators to the American networks over Trans¬
atlantic telephone circuits.
ii
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8/30/40
NOTE : DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE GOVERNMENT OFFICES ARE TO 3E
CLOSED LABOR DAY, THERE WILL BE NO ISSUE OF THIS SER¬
VICE ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3.
xxxxxxxxx
CROSLEY TO BUILD NEW $100,000 TELEVISION STATION
The Crosley Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio, has been
granted a construction permit by the Federal Coramunnications Com¬
mission for a new television broadcast station in that city. The
proposed station, at Vine and Fifth Streets, will operate experi¬
mentally on television channel No. 1 (50,000 to 56,000 kilocycles)
with 1 kilowatt arual and visual power, A3 and A5 emission.
It was among the applications tenatively approved in
June subject to proper showing of programs of research and develop¬
ment, including engineering experimentation tending to develop uni¬
form transmission standards of acceptable technical quality. The
Crosley station intends to work with a transmitting system in which
the picture is composed of 30 frames per second interlaced. Tests
will be conducted with 441 and 507 lines as well as an intermediate
J number of lines. It also contemplates research on wave forms, and
experimentation on various types of antennas and the effect of
vertical and horizontal polarization.
The initial cost of the station is estimated to exceed
$100,000.
XXXXXXXXX
PLAN DRAFTED TO TRAIN CCC IN RADIO
A plan for conversion of a greatly enlarged Civilian Con¬
servation Corps into a reservoir of trained young mechanics and
artisans for national defense and for industry is now being prepared
for presentation to the President.
Instruction to be provided calls for: Radio and electri¬
cal mechanics and operators; training of mechanics for trucks, tract¬
ors, tanks and automotive equipment. Plane mechanics, photographers,
and mapmakers. Hospital aides-first aid and cooks.
Increase of from 50 to 100 per cent in CCC camps and en-
rollees is contemplated. Present relief requirements for camp en¬
trance would be lifted to place enrollments on a strictly voluntary
basis. Strictly military training would be barred.
Tentatively, proposals call for an increase in the number
of camps by 800 and in the numbers of enrollees by about 160,000.
Camps at present number 1,500 with around 300,000 enrolled.
XXXXXXXXX
- 4 -
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8/30/40
WARNS STATIONS COULD BE SEIZED IN CONSCRIPTION
Senator Sheridan Downey ( D) of California saw danger of
radio stations and newspapers being seized by the Overton - Russell
amendment to the selective military service bill adopted by the
Senate to permit the Government to take over defense industries if
necessary.
"I cannot conceive that we have reached any crisis in
this country at this time, " Senator Downey said, "by virtue of
which we are now ready to place in the hands of two men the arbi¬
trary power to take over, at their will and disposition, without
any judicial review of any character, almost any type of business
in the United States."
"We have simple, proper, rational ways to limit profits,
and we do not have to place in the hands of the Secretary of the
Navy or the Secretary of Wer the right arbitrarily, without any
judicial decision of necessity, to seize practically every business
in the United States. "
"If I read this law correctly, if the Secretary of War
or the Secretary of the Navy should say -This newspaper is a facility
that I require to spread news or propaganda, ' or *this radio is
necessary for public purposes, 1 that decision would be final, and
Lhat newspaper or that radio would pass out of the hands of the
proprietor. "
XXXXXXXXX
DIATHERMY INTERFERENCE JEOPARDIZES DEFENSE SERVICES
(Note: This is not released for publication until after
Mr. Jett's address has been delivered, Monday, September 2.)
Interference is the problem child of radio, Lieutenant
Commander E. K. Jett, U. S. N. , retired, Chief Engineer of the
Federal Communications Commission said at the American Congress of
Physical Therapy at Cleveland, September. Commander Jett spoke of
the serious menace to the communications services of the Army and
Navy and other national defense agencies caused by diathermy inter¬
ference.
"Radio interference is of three kinds, " Commander Jett
explained, "Except under special conditions, radio stations can
interfere with one another unless they are assigned separate fre¬
quencies- — that is, separate highways in the ether. This kind of
interference is taken care of through government regulation and
international agreement. Every station is assigned a specific fre¬
quency or channel and is required to operate within this channel.
It must not deviate from its frequency beyond certain limits. The
signals, in other words, must ride on the right side of the road. "
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"The second type of interference is caused by nature —
thunder storms or electric discharges; static or atmospheric
noise, as we call it. During local thunder storms the radio set
is usually out of commission but other storms of far distant
origin still play a part because these electrical discharges are
transmitted by radio. In this connection, it is interesting to
know that there are some 1800 thunder storms in existence in all
parts of the world at any one time. So there is always a varying
amount of interference or atmospheric noise present in radio re¬
ception, and it appears all over your dial. We overcome this
type of interference in large measure by assigning sufficient po¬
wer to radio stations to over-ride the noise. "
"The third type of interference is industrial — electrical
or man-made. It is caused by electric machines used in the in¬
dustry or the home, such as oil burners, electrical razors, auto¬
matic sign flashers, and the like. Automobile ignition and elec¬
tric railways are other producers of interference. Fortunately,
this third type of interference travels only a very short distance
from the source. It has been possible to control this type of
interference to a large extent through cooperation between manu¬
facturers, radio operating companies, and the user of the equip¬
ment. "
Commander Jett said the interference caused by dia¬
thermy equipment appeared to be in a class of its own and might
seriously interfere with national defense services.
"True, the apparatus is an electric machine and it is
not used for communication purposes, but to treat patients, to
relieve human suffering and to save lives, " the speaker continued.
However, it cannot be classed as an ordinary electric machine
similar to many of the thousands in use in the electrical industry.
Because of its design and the manner in which it is used, it is
in fact — though not intended as such--a radio transmitter of con¬
siderable power utilizing an effective radiation system, operating
in the most useful regions of the radio spectrum. It is not only
capable of interfering with radio reception but in many causes is
actually now doing so. "
"Radiations from one of these machines located in the
vicinity of Boston were controlled by an ordinary telegrapher's
key and the signals thus emitted in the international Morse code
were easily read in Washington, D. C. , and at G-reat Lakes, Ill.
Subsequent tests of a machine located in Schenectady, New York,
revealed that it was capable of interrupting communication in
Washington, Detroit, Grand Island, Nebraska, New York City, and
other widely scattered points. "
"The transmissions from diathermy machines are capable
of being received across the continent and even across the ocean.
The frequencies upon which they operate are used by the national
defense and safety services. Interruptions of these services may
jeopardize life or property, or seriously affect the nation*s
interests.
6
8/30/40
Communication companies appeal to the Commission re¬
peatedly as being their only source of relief from these inter¬
ruptions in their services. Municipalities, as many as thirty at
a time, have also petitioned the Commission for assistance in the
protection of their police services. "
"We have in the radio industry two rapidly growing ser¬
vices that are likely to contribute very substantially to the
public’s benefit. These are television, and aural broadcasting
combined with facsimile broadcasting, employing the new system of
frequency modulation. Each of these new services must operate on
ultra-high frequencies above 40,000 kilocycles. "
"With this new system, called 1 FM broadcasting* we will
have gone a long way toward overcoming one of the most unruly types
of interference with which we have had to deal, namely, atmospherics.
Diathermy interference will likewise be minimized or eliminated.
There are many who live in rural areas who have never experienced
real good radio reception. We now have the opportunity to furnish
these people with the same high quality noise- free radio programs
that are often enjoyed in the large cities. But here again we are
liable to collide with diathermy interference."
"Any curtailment of diathermy apparatus would cause great
hardship to many sufferers and would prevent the saving of many
lives. No one would suggest such a step. On the contrary, I for
one am anxious to encourage the use of diathermy equipment. Dia¬
thermy, like radio, is a safety service. It is used by physicians
and surgeons in many ways to combat disease and for surgical pur¬
poses. In the hospital it has become an indispensable tool. We
have been informed that there are thousands of therapeutic depart¬
ments in hospitals in the United States, all of which possess one
or more diathermy machines, and there are thousands of privately
owned machines being operated by physicians in this and other coun¬
tries. We would no more want to prevent the use of these machines
than we would think of endeavoring to curtail the activities of the
doctors themselves. But we are confronted with a very serious pro¬
blem. Two safety services — diathermy and radio. It is a question
of live and let live. We must find a. way in which each can get
along in the presence of the other. "
"In those cases where it is necessary to take the appara¬
tus to the patient, in circumstances where screening the room is
not practicable or advisable economically , or, if for any other
reason entire scree ing of the patient and the apparatus is not
possible, it would appear that the only solution would be to use
apparatus with a restricted frequency band of emission which does
not extend over more than one communication channel. G-reat care
should be exercised in the selection of the channel to make cer¬
tain that no interference will result to radio reception. "
XXXXXXXXX
8/30/40
THAD BROWN CONFIRMATION AGAIN BLOCKED
Once more Senator Charles W. Tobey ( R) of New Hampshire
has thrown a monkey-wrench in the proceedings to confirm the re¬
appointment of Col. Thad Brown to the Federal Communications Com¬
mission. According to reliable reports, the Senate Interstate
Commerce Committee which met in executive session last Friday,
was all prepared to vote a favorable recommendation for Brown.
Upon hearing this Senator Tobey is said to have risen in wrath (de¬
claring he had new evidence to be considered and threatening to
go on the floor of the Senate "and raise hell" if further consider¬
ation to the matter, which already has been pending since the
middle of June, were not given.
However true these reports of Friday’s meeting may be,
the fact is after a long session the Senate Committee adjourned
without taking action, not to meet again until after Labor Day.
XXXXXXXXX
FCC LABOR LEGAL ADVISOR APPOINTED
Sidney D. Spear, assistant to the legal ad.visor of the
State Department, has been appointed, to the Law Department of the
Federal Communications Commission to advise on matters involving
employment and labor problems in relation to the regulation of
communications.
Mr. Spear’s background is labor economics and research,
and he is completing a chapter on internation communications for
the Digest of International Law.
Born in Seattle March 16, 1909, Mr. Spear was graduated
from the University of Washington, magna cum laude, with A.B.
degree in 1931. He had graduate work in psychology and sociology
and was Assistant Dean of Men at the University of Washington until
1934. He received his LL.B. from Harvard in 1937. In his service
with the State Department, since 1937, Mr. Spear has specialized
in the legal aspects of electrical communications.
XXXXXXXXX
NATIONAL TELEVISION GROUPS TO MEET
There will be meetings of eight of the nine television
panels or subcommittees at the Hotel Roosevelt next week. Panels
1 and 3 will meet September 3; panels 4 and 5 on September 4; panel
6 and 7 on September 5, and panels 8 and 9 on September 6. Details
of meetings may be secured from Mr. L. C. F. Horle , 90 West Street,
New York City, Telephone Corlland 7-0850.
XXXXXXXXX
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WILLKIE LISTENS TO MCNARY OVER PORTABLE
Wendell Willkie gave portable radios some fine free
advertising by listening to the acceptance speech of his running
mate, Vice Presidential nominee, McNary, over a portable. It
developed that Mr. Willkie carries a portable radio with him on
his plane trips wherever he goes.
Mr. Willkie was enroute to Rushville by auto but listen¬
ed to Mr. McNary' s speech in a little roadside restaurant in the
outskirts of Indianapolis, Martha Taylor’s Eat Shop, on Virginia
Avenue. The capacity of the small lunch room was taxed when the
Willkie party arrived without advance notice. A crowd gathered
in front of the restaurant to see Mr. Willkie and incidentally to
listen to the McNary speech over his portable.
Later in the day discussing broadcasts he himself might
make, Mr. Willkie said:
"Only one or two" of his major speeches would be made
from manuscript and that "two, perhaps only one," would be del¬
ivered over national radio hookups. Asked if he intended to
speak over the radio without a prepared address, Mr. Willkie re¬
plied: "Why, of course. "
XXXXXXXXX
A . C . & R.G. NETS $643,246 FIRST NINE MONTHS
The consolida.ted net income of the American Cable and
Radio Corporation and subsidiary companies for nine months amount¬
ed to $643,246. The corporation acquired its assets and commenced
business January 31, 1940, pursuant to the Order of the Court,
dated January 25, 1940, directing consummation of the Plan of Re¬
organization of Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation and its
subsidiary, the Associated Companies.
Operating revenues were $9,470,204, operating expenses
$8,253,930 and net income from operations $1,003,439. In his re¬
port, John L. Merrill, Chairman, stated;
"Notwithstanding the interruption in cable communications
with Germany, both cable and radiotelegraph revenues increased
substantially coincident with the outbreak of war in September 1939.
Revenues for the last. three months of the year declined materially
from the September peak, but still remained above the levels of
prior to September. "
"The consolidated net earnings of All America Corp.
and Commercial Mackay Corporation calculated in accordance with the
provisions of the respective Indentures on a pro forma basis were
sufficient to permit payment of interest at the rate of 4% per
annum for the period from April 1 to December 31, 1939 with re spec'
to the Income Debentures of such companies. "
XXXXXXXXX
- 9 -
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8/30/40
WMCA TO OFFER RA.DIO APPRENTICESHIP COURSES
An apprenticeship course in radio technique applying to
all branches of the broadcasting industry will be inaugurated by
the Marketing Department School of Commerce of New York University-
in cooperation with station WMCA, it was announced by Donald Flamm,
president of WMCA and Warren B. Dygert, Assistant Professor of the
New York University radio courses.
To be given on a preferential basis, the instruction will
consist of junior appointments at WMCA. Students selected will be
trained in various capacities by working directly under department
heads in the units to which they will be assigned. Approximately
fifteen students will be taken from the advanced radio classes dur¬
ing each semester and additional credit will be alloted those
satisfactorily completing the prescribed course.
Reason for the apprenticeships, the first of their kind
in radio, is to provide students with an opportunity for applying
their theories to actual commercial broadcasting, it was explained.
It is also planned to form a placement committee consisting of key
men in radio, to assist in placing worthy graduates in the industry,
according to Professor Dygert. The Marketing Department now has
an enrollment of 200 students in the radio courses, it was stated.
The apprenticeship course will start September 24th when
New York University opens for its fall semester. Fields to be
covered in the apprenticeships include production of radio programs,
script writing, publicity, promotion, news, announcing, and sales.
Students from New York University1 s School of Engineering and Music
taking courses at the Marketing Department, will also be permitted
assignments in related departments at WMCA.
xxxxxxxx
CHURCH OF AIR ENTERS TENTH YEAR
Nine hundred and thirty-six sermons in nine years — two
every Sunday delivered by prelates representing all the established
faiths in this country — is the impressive record of the Columbia
Broadcasting System’s Church of the Air which enters its tenth year
Sunday, Sept. 1.
Since the launching of the first broadcast of the Church
of the Air, on a Sunday early in September, 1931, its appeal has
grown greatly, a, fact that is attested, to by the many thousands of
letters (14,000 were received in one week) that pour into CBS head¬
quarters from correspondents who for the most part tell of the in¬
spiration and comfort they have derived from the sermons.
XXXXXXXX
- 10 -
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FCC ATTORNEYS’ APPLICATIONS APPROVED
Applications for the following attorneys to practice
before the Commission, approved by the Bar Committee on August 21,
1940, were approved by the Commission:
William J. Dempsey, Washington, D. C.
LeRoy Mallory "Edwards, Los Angeles, Calif.
Bernard J. Freedman, New York, New York.
J. C. Ga.rlington , Missoula, Montana
Thomas D. Goode, Charlotte, North Car.
Joseph Greenhill, New York, New York
Simon G-reenhill, New York, New York
William C. Koplovitz, Washington, D. C.
Bernard Cornelius Mayberry, Washington, D. C.
XXXXXXXXX
FOREIGN LANGUAGE BROADCASTS RECORDING URGED
The National Council on Freedom from Censorship, an
affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, urged the Federal
Communications Commission to promulgate a regulation requiring
radio stations to have recordings made of all foreign language
broadcasts in this country.
Quincy Howe, chairman of the council, in a letter to
R. A. M. Craven of the FCC, pointed out that his organization
disapproved of the discussion of controversial matters of commerc¬
ial programs.
"Such programs, as under the National Association of
Broa.dcasters code, should be handled on sustaining time with
opportunity of discussion of other views, " Mr. Howe contended.
He requested that hearings be held by the FCC to ascer¬
tain the advisability and practicability of required transcriptions
of foreign language broadcasts.
XXXXXXXXX
CBS COLOR TELEVISING SHOWN FCC
After seeing a color television test in the Columbia
Broadcasting studios in New York last Thursday, Chairman James L.
Fly of the FCC was quoted as spying:
"I do not doubt that if we can start television off as
a color proposition, instead of as a black and white show, it wil
have a greater potential acceptance with the public. It, should be
hoped that other leading engineers will take an interest in tele¬
vision’s color possibilities and see that it is further developed
11
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8/30/40
Chairman Fly was asked specifically if he liked televi¬
sion in color better than in black and white, and if, in his
opinion, the public also would like it better.
"I do not think there is any doubt about that point” he
replied. "Color television has realism, clarity, definition and
life. It has to be seen to be realized. "
"At the present rate of progress," Vice President Paul
I. Kersten of CBS said, "Columbia hopes to have its color system,
which has been in the intensive stage of development for the last
six months, ready for commercial use by January 1, 1941. "
/
xxxxxxxxxx
WLW ENGINEERS GOOD AT FARMING ALSO
At Mason, Ohio, site of the WLW and WLWO transmitters,
engineers maintain the intricate apparatus which keeps WLW 5 s 50,000
watts on the air 20 hours a day, a Crosley press bulletin relates.
These engineers know how to jump the power to 500,000 watts every
night at midnight, when WLW becomes WLWO. They know how to shi
the international short wave station, WLWO, to any one of six fre¬
quencies so that South America will get optimum reception.
But they can handle other engineering problems too.
Just across the road from the WLW transmitter grounds is a farm.
This week the well ran dry. The farmer had no water for his hogs.
Could the radio folks across the way help him out? Could they run
a water hose over to his farm? Joseph Whitehouse, chief transmitter
started to think about it. If they ran a hose across the road,
passing automobiles would chew it up. They wandered over to the
edge of the road and discovered a culvert. It ran under the road.
They could put the hose through this culvert and traffic would be
no problem.
But how could they get the hose through the comparatively
narrow pipe? They couldn't crawl through with it. A little more
thinking and the problem was solved. There are several pet dogs
on the transmitter grounds. They took one of the dogs over to one
entrance to the culvert, attached a rope to the dog's neck, and
attached the hose to the other end of the rope.
Whitehouse hedl the dog. At the other entrance to the
culvert, Baysore stood with a piece of meat. He whistled.
Result: dog entered culvert ot get meat, pulling rope
attached to hose. When dog emerged, Baysore pulled hose through
£nd thus hose got to farm.
Hogs have water. Farmer is happy.
X X X X X X X X X
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; ; TRADE NOTES: ; :
The amateur radio operators licenses of Andrew Gibbs
Cochran and Joseph E. Hryce j , both of Chicago, were suspended
for six months for violating FCC rules.
WLOK, the Fort Industry, Lima, Ohio,
a construction permit to increase its power to
has been granted
250 watts.
The construction permit of the new broadcast station
of the Cuyahaga Valley Broadcasting Company of Cleveland to
change its transmitter site to East 49th Street at the New York
Central Failroad, Cleveland.
Station KXOK, operated by the St. Louis Star- Times
in addition to increase in power recently asked for now requests
a change in type of transmitting equipment. The Pulitzer Pub¬
lishing Company in St. Louis has applied for a new high fre¬
quency permit.
Students in Washington, D. C. may take a combined
course in radio and television engineering in one year at the
National Radio Institute. These are practical courses designed
for immediate practical work. Laboratories in these schools
have actual television equipment for experimentation and study.
The General Electric Company has announced a new 200-
ampere, d-c arc welder which will provide any welding current
from 25 to 250 amperes. This wide range allows all-day manual
welding to be done with currents up to 200 amperes, using elec¬
trodes from 1/16 to 3/16 inch in diameter. Capacity is also
provided for the use of electrodes as large as 1/4 inch on oc¬
casional short jobs.
Peter Brant, WLW chief announcer, interviewed Wendell
Willkie before he was nominated in Philadelphia, and recently
covered the G, O.P. standard bearer’s acceptance speech in Elwood,
He is said to be the only announcer for an independent broad¬
casting station to handle both the ’’before" and "after" aspects
of Willkie 1 s spectacular rise.
NOTE: Mr. 'Willkie' s portable is "a General Electric.
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 6, 1940
■4i v
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P9 194ft
Thad Brown Withdrawal Discussed . 2
Havana Reallocation Announcements Before Sept. 29 . . . 2
FCC Head Impresed By Color Television . . . .....3
Confidence In Station Foreign Broadcast Handling.
4
Zenith First Quarter Zooms . 5
Political Demands Put Broadcasters On Spot . 6
WSPD Steps Up To 5 KW . . . . . . . 7
Ship Service Radiophone Rules Revised . 7
Cautions Westinghouse License Renewal Not Precedent . 8
Unsold Millions . 8
To Investigate FM Network Possibility .
How Battles May Be Reported... .
Army Maneuvers Via Mobile Pickups .
Short-Wave Diathermy Device Brings Complaint
Trade Notes. . .
Warner Bros. Station Signs New ASCAP Deal. . .
Radio Billings Up In August .
No. 1263
. 9
. 9
10
10
11
12
12
i
THAD BROWN WITHDRAWAL DISCUSSED
It was anybody's guess what the fate of Col. Thad Brown
would be with regard to the confirming of his reappointment to the
Federal Communications Commission by the Senate Interstate Com¬
merce Committee. Colonel Brown has been kept suspended between
heaven and earth ever since the middle of June.
One story was that Senator Wheeler, of Montana, Chairman
of the Committee, had asked President Roosevelt to withdraw the
nomination and that the President had promised to do so. This was
denied at the White House, which resulted in another rumor that
the President had insisted on Colonel Brown’s confirmation. The
pressure was said to have come from Former Governor James Cox,
Democrat, of Ohio, Brown's home State, with whom Mr. Roosevelt
once ran as a vice-presidential candidate.
There are reported to be only three votes against
Colonel Brown’s confirmation on the entire Senate Committee of
about twenty members - Senator Wheeler, Democrat, Senator Tobey,
Republican, of New Hampshire, who has been the leader in the fight
on Brown, and Senator Reed, Republican, of Kansas. The political
mixup is further heightened by the fact that Colonel Brown is a
Republican and his nomination was sent in by President Roosevelt,
a Democrat. The late Senator Lundeen, of Minnesota, was also a
member of the Interstate Commerce Committee and had attended quite
a number of its sessions but so far as known, had not indicated
how he had intended to vote.
The Senate Committee will probably not take up the Brown
matter for further consideration until about the middle of next
week (Sept. 11), unless President Roosevelt withdraws the name of
Colonel Brown which, of course, would automatically terminate
further consideration of his name.
xxxxxxxxxx
HAVANA REALLOCATION ANNOUNCEMENTS BEFORE SEPT. 29
The Federal Communications Commission has completed its
study in the matter, and it is expected foreign governments will
be notified before September 29, regarding the United States re¬
allocations of stations in compliance with the Havana Treaty which
was ratified last December. Many U. S. broadcasting stations have
received serious interference in the past from Cuban and Mexican
stations. The Havana Treaty provides channels of their own for
the Cuban and Mexican stations, thus elininating this source of
information. It is expected that the new U. S. reallocations
will be made public by the Commission in Washington at the same
time they are sent to the foreign governments.
XXXXXXXXXX
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FCC HEAD IMPRESSED BY COLOR TELEVISION
At his first press conference after Labor Day, Chairman
James L. Fly spoke with considerable enthusiasm about the labor¬
atory development of color television by Columbia, a demonstration
of which he had recently seen in New York. Chairman Fly also took
occasion to say that he had been much pleased by the demonstration
of 525-line television which he had seen at the Don Lee Laboratories
in Los Angeles not long ago when he visited the West Coast. Al¬
together the Chairman revealed a very live interest in the progress
which he said was now being made by the television engineers.
Mr. Fly remarked that to his lay mind, the Columbia
images in color were a distinct improvement and he hoped the various
engineers would get together to bring it to a perfect state. The
Chairman said that there was no comparison between color and black
and white television. Color gives more satisfaction and realism,
also better definition and clarity, he felt.
Mr. Fly spoke of how different flowers showed up in com¬
parison with black and white, that color gave quite a perspective.
He said this was helpful to the television search for more detail.
The color pictures, the speaker continued, were even and not jumpy.
He said it was the first time the industry had hit on a method of
using different colors on one frequency. Mr. Fly explained that
only receivers with special equipment could get television in
colors and that since the CBS was not in the business of manu¬
facturing receivers, the experiment called for the cooperation of
others. In fact, Mr. Fly hoped the whole industry would get to¬
gether in the effort to perfect television.
The following clarifying statement with regard to the
color television test which Chairman Flay had witnessed, was issued
by the Columbia Broadcasting System:
"Columbia's announcement of its laboratory success in
developing color television has been misinterpreted as a forecast
by this company that it planned to broadcast color television pro¬
grams by January 1 next. This misinterpretation apparently arises
from the company's employment of the phrase 'commercial use' in
apposition to 'laboratory development'. It was Columbia's intention
to use the word 'commercial' in reference to the manufacture of
receiving sets and transmitting equipment by commercial producers
in those fields. In that sense, Columbia does hope that January 1st
will see the beginning of, or at least substantial progress toward,
the manufacture of such commercial equipment. Since Columbia is
not itself a commercial manufacturer of television apparatus, it
is not possible for this company to say how long it will take to
begin actual marketing of the necessary devices.
"It should further be pointed out that while production
of commercial equipment would enable numerous television broad¬
casters to avail themselves of the Columbia development, this does
not necessarily mean that television broadcasting would be commer¬
cial in the sense of carrying sponsored programs, since no date
has yet been set for such broadcast service. "
XXXXXXXX
3
■
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9/6/40
//
CONFIDENCE IN STATION FOREIGN BROADCAST HANDLING
While the Federal Communications Commission will give
further consideration to a request addressed to Commander T.A. M.
Craven, then Acting Chairman, by Quincy Howe, Chairman of the
American Civil Liberties Union, suggesting that all stations be
required to make recordings of foreign language broadcasts, it was
stated yesterday that the Commission has confidence in the ability
of the stations themselves to handle this matter, that some already
are making recordings of foreign broadcasts and that for the time
being at least, the FCC will continue to let this question remain
in the stations' hands.
Mr. Howe's letter follows:
"August 22, 1940.
Mr. T. A. M. Craven,
Federal Communications Commission,
New Post Office Building,
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Craven:
We understand that Station WHIP has banned the German Hour
Program of the Einheits Front. In cancelling the commercial broad¬
cast, the Station stated that such action was taken 'because the
German Hour as now being presented is of such controversial nature
as to make it unacceptable to many Americans'.
The Council disapproves of the discussion of controversial
matters on commercial programs. Such programs, as under the NAB
code, should be handled on sustaining time with opportunity of
discussion for other views.
The difficulty in dealing with foreign language broadcasts,
however, is that it is often impossible to ascertain or prove what
in fact has been said. Thus in the case of Station WHIP it is
alleged that the German Hour, in advising the audience of the
Chicago 'Keep America Out of War' meeting twice broadcast:
'I bring a pressing summons to all members and to
all listeners to the United Front Radio Hour to do their
duty by attending the great mass meeting in Soldiers Field.
Entrance is free and the speakers are Col. Lindbergh and
Senator Bennett Champ Clark. None dare or should fail. '
Whether the above quotation is an accurate report or trans¬
lation cannot, as a practical matter, be conclusively proved even
if scripts are supplied, since there is always the possibility of
interpolation. It would seem to us that one way to meet the profr
lem of foreign language broadcasts is by a regulation requiring
stations to have recordings made of all such programs. Such a
9/6/40
requirement would very likely, in our opinion, provide all inter¬
ested persons and government agencies with, a record of what was in
fact broadcast.
"Because we deem this a vital matter, we sincerely request
that hearings be held by the Commission to ascertain both the
advisability and practicability of requiring recordings of foreign
language broadcasts.
"Sincerely yours,
(Signed) Quincy Howe,
Chairman "
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ZENITH FIRST QUARTER ZOOMS
Zenith Radio Corporation reported for the first quarter
of its fiscal year ended July 31, a consolidated operating profit
of $651,136, or $1.32 a share after depreciation, taxes and
reserves but before Federal income taxes.
This compared with profit of $29,321, or 6 cents a share
before Federal income taxes for the like 1939 quarter.
Commenting upon this, Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. ,
President, said that substantial shipments were made during August
and unfilled orders on hand for September and October delivery
give promise of a satisfactory volume of business for the current
quarter.
"The company* s new frequency modulation receivers were
recently displayed at distributors* meetings and met with en¬
thusiastic reception. It is expected that sales of these models
will steadily increase as frequency modulation broadcasting becomes
more general", Commander McDonald continued. "The company has
made available to automobile manufacturers, with whom it has con¬
tracts, a new and revolutionary development in automobile receiv¬
ers. This revolutionary receiver is about to be placed on the
market by these manufacturers and will be first shown to the public
at the New York Automobile Show. Substantial orders have already
been placed with the company by automobile manufacturers for
radios to be used in their new 1941 models and deliveries on auto
radios embodying this new invention started in August. "
XXXXXXXXXX
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9/6/40
POLITICAL DEMANDS PUT BROADCASTERS ON SPOT
Between demands for free time by the Republicans every
time the President makes a "non-political" speech, and the Hatch
Act putting a ceiling on campaign expenditures, the broadcasters
are on the spot. How much the parties will spend on radio is not
known. Because of the payment of some old debts, the entire
Republic campaign budget, Chairman Martin of the Republican National
Committee, estimates, will be limited to $1,550,000. The Hatch
Act placed a limit of $3,000,000 on each party’s expenses.
Up to now the only important money in sight for the
broadcasters is an hour’s time which the Democrats have reserved
for a final broadside on all networks at 11 P.M., the night before
election. "Johnny" Johnstone, Democratic radio chief, believes
the Democrats might spend as much as $250,000, which is only about
half as much as in 1936.
President Roosevelt as president and candidate this
year, is in the same position as Mr. Hoover was in 1932. During
the campaign period the latter made thirteen speeches which were
broadcast, of which five were "non-political". The sustaining
program speeches were the dedication of a statue to Cardinal
Gibbons, the cornerstone laying of the new Post Office Department
Building, a meeting of the American Bar Association, a Welfare and
Relief Mobilization, all in Washington, and the Women’s Conference
on Child Welfare in New York. The remaining eight of President
Hoover's speech broadcasts were paid for at commercial rates.
Time alone, not counting the cost of talent which would
have to be paid, or such an item as $3,000 which it cost the
broadcasters to run long telephone lines into the National Parks
for the President’s last broadcasts, to say nothing of the travel¬
ing expenses of the announcers and engineers - just the time on
the air of the three networks for a half an hour at night would be
around $30,000. Of course the broadcasters want to do everything
they possibly can for Mr. Willkie if for no other reason than if
elected he would be their next boss. On the other hand via the
Federal Communications Commission, upon which a continuation of
their licenses depends, Mr. Roosevelt is their present boss. And
as one broadcaster sorrowfully remarked, "Besides any money we
might lose on free presidential broadcasts, we have still a third
boss who must be kept pleased - old Mr. John Q. Public. "
So altogether up to the present meriting at least, the
broadcasters are not looking forward to the present campaign with
any particular glee. Never in the history of the radio has there
been any such bitter presidential contest as the present one pro¬
mises to be. The others have been powder puff affairs compared
to the fight between FDR and Mr. Willkie, and the men running the
networks and the broadcasting stations will heave a large sigh of
relief wThen it is over.
//
xxxxxxxxxx
9/6/40
WSPD STEPS UP TO 5 KW
Station WSPD, at Toledo, Ohio, of which John H. Ryan
is the heed, has been granted a license by the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission to cover a construction permit to increase the
power of the station from 1 to 5 kilowatts at night, also the
installation of directional antenna for night use, and authority
to determine operating power by direct measurement of antenna
power.
WSPD, owned by The Fort Industry Co. , is on 1340 kc. ,
and up to this time has used 5 KW in the daytime only.
xxxxxxxxxx
SHIP SERVICE RADIOPHONE RULES REVISED
The Federal Communications Commission has modified its
rules governing ship service to permit the use of the frequency
2638 kilocycles for telephone communications between vessels.
Allocation of this frequency is intended to relieve the
congestion now existing on the present intership frequency 2738
kilocycles. It is in accord with the Inter- American Radiocommuni¬
cations Arrangement, as revised this year at Santiago, Chile, at
which the band 2634-2642 kilocycles was assigned to ’’Northern
Zone" aeronautical and intership communication services, with the
frequency 2638 kilocycles specifically designed for the latter.
The Commission rules were further modified to avoid
interference between the two services by banning use of 2638 kilo¬
cycles on the inland waters of the United States, including the
Great Lakes. The frequencies 2626 and 2640 kilocycles are used by
stations in the aeronautical fixed service within the continental
United States.
The number of ship radiotelephone stations has tripled
in the past two years. Practically all of the now approximately
2,800 ship radiotelephone stations licensed by the Commission have
been limited to transmission on 2738 kilocycles. This is the only
frequency (except 2182 kilocycles safety frequency on the Great
Lakes exclusively and certain ultra-high frequencies not exten¬
sively developed) which has been available heretofore for inter¬
ship communication.
XXXXXXXXX
the movie actor, has been authorized to
his plane.
XXXXXXXXX
- 7 -
James Stewart,
install a transmitter in
6/9/40
CAUTIONS WESTING-HOUSE LICENSE RENEWAL NOT PRECEDENT
Cautioning that its action must not be interpreted as
a precedent for subsequent approval of broadcast station licensees
disposing of their rights and privileges through contract, the
Federal Comrauni options Commission has granted applications of
Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. for renewal of
licenses of Stations WBZ and WBZA, at Boston, KYW, at Philadelphia,
and KDKA at Pittsburgh.
These stations were among those which the Commission, on
January 29, designated for hearing in the matter of contractual
relations. Hearing on the Westinghouse stations, set for October 7,
is now cancelled.
In its petition for reconsideration and grant of the
renewal applications without hearing, Westinghouse alleged that
it has held operating licenses for these stations for more than
18 years, and as "the pioneer" in the development of broadcasting
has continued its interest and research therein; that prior to
Commission’s decision to hold hearing the company considered the
desirability of terminating its agreement with the National Broad¬
casting Co. , and did so as of July 1; that Westinghouse now sup¬
plies its own programs for local broadcasting and has a new
arrangement with National on the usual station affiliation basis
for network programs.
The Westinghouse International Short Wave Station WPIT
in Pittsburgh shortly will be moved to Boston as one of the steps
being undertaken by Westinghouse to improve transmission of short
wave programs to the countries of Latin America.
While no definite date had been set for the transfer,
short wave broadcasts on WPIT’s six frequencies will be heard from
the new location sometime this Fall. WPIT is beamed on Latin
America during 13 hours of its present 16-hour broadcasting day.
It was pointed out that engineering tests have conclusively shown
that transmission starting from salt water sites is far more
effective than transmission from an inland location.
xxxxxxxxxxx
UNSOLD MILLIONS
These figures with regard to farm radio are furnished
by Radio Today:
Total occupied farms
Farms without radios
Total electrified farms
Farm population
6,500,000
4,000,000
1, 786,000
32,000,000
XXXXXXXXXX
- 8 -
0>W\
9/6/40
TO INVESTIGATE EM NETWORK POSSIBILITY
Plans for the establishment of a special frequency
modulation (FM) network on a nationwide scale took another step
forward this week following a meeting of representative broad¬
casters held in Chicago.
Attended by radio executives from territories embracing
many of the country's greatest cities, this meeting voted to con¬
duct an exploratory investigation on the feasibility of program¬
ming a group of FM stations in selected markets with national
programs. A committee of seven was named to supervise such an
investigation.
Its members comprise John Shepard, 3rd, of The Yankee
Network, Boston; William Way, KVOO, Tulsa, Okla. ; Elzey Roberts,
KXOK, St. Louis, Mo.; Walter Damm, WTMJ, Milwaukee, Wis. ; Harry
Stone, WSM, Nashville, Tenn. ; Gordon Gray, WSJS, Winston-Salem,
N.C.; and H. L. Pettey, Los Angeles.
A survey conducted by FM Broadcasters, Inc. , in the past
few weeks reveals that a considerable assortment of FM receivers,
most of them of the combination type with both standard broadcast
and the new system, are to be produced by 14 radio manufacturers.
These include Ansley, Emerson, Farnsworth, Freed-Eiseraann, General
Electric, Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, National, Philharmonic, Pilot,
Scott, Stewart- Warner, Stromberg-Carlson and Zenith.
Noteworthy is the general price range, extending from
$50 "adapter" units, through the $75-to~$100 combination receivers,
up to the custom-built, top-price sets that sell in the starry
realms around $600.
The first community in the Chicago area to adopt fre¬
quency modulation for emergency communication purposes is the
City of Maywood, Ill. Early this Fall, a new two-way General
Electric FM communication system for the police of Maywood will go
into operation.
xxxxxxxxxx
HOW BATTLES MAY BE REPORTED
Judging from a BBC broadcast heard over WOR-Mutual
recently, the English are employing the same technique of delayed
recorded broadcasts WOR itself uses so effectively. On a recent
Sunday broadcast about two minutes at the end of the program were
devoted to an on-the-spot description of the drowning of a Nazi
Messerschmidt plane by British anti-aircraft fire. The two min¬
utes were obviously recorded by a mobile unit and then played as
oart of the regular news broadcast. The English announcer, how¬
ever, did not explain where or when the incident was observed.
XXXXXXXXXX
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9/6/40
ARMY MANEUVRES VIA MOBILE PICKUPS
The mobile unit of Station WLW in Cincinnati has just
completed a series of instantaneous transcriptions at the First
Army maneuvers held in Upper New York, near Ogdensburg.
The special events series, made 750 miles away from
Cincinnati, was directed by Jerry Branch, Technical Advisor to
James D. Shouse, Vice-Fresident of the Crosley Corporation in
charge of broadcasting.
The recordings were broadcast nightly by Station WLW
upon receipt. The most interesting features of the maneuvers were
described. In a bulletin of the Public Pelations Division of the
First Army, was this comment: "With the ability to dash to any
scene of action, the WLW mobile unit makes it possible for the
millions of WLW listeners to hear the realism of military opera¬
tions. "
Among the recordings were exciting accounts of dive
bombing, Army engineers constructing a pontoon bridge under gun¬
fire, roaring attacks by fleets of tanks, and actual demonstra¬
tions of the mechanized streamlined division's capabilities, with
the motto, "Not a Man Marches".
From the Army’s standpoint, it was said, the test was
gratifying in that it showed the important part radio mobile units
can play when operating in conjunction with the Army in a national
emergency.
XXXXXXXXX
SHORT- WAVE DIATHERMY DEVICE BRINGS COMPLAINT
Alleging misrepresentation in the sale of an electrical
device designated as "Atlas Short Wave Diathermy" advertised for
use in the treatment of certain diseases, the Federal Trade Commis¬
sion has issued a complaint against Jacob L. Goldman, alias J. L.
Coleman, trading as Atlas Health Appliance Company, 2430 West
Sixth Street, Los Angeles, California.
The complaint alleges that in addition the respondent
has disseminated false advertisements in that the advertisements
of its device fail to reveal that its use under the conditions
prescribed in the advertisements or under such conditions as are
customary or usual, may result in serious and irreparable injury
to health.
XXXXXXXXX
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TRADE NOTES
R. C. A. Communications has been granted temporary author¬
ity by the Federal Communications Commission to communicate with
Administration of Posts and Telecommunications, Stations 0?L and
0PM at Leopoldville, Belgian Congo.
MCA1 s series of broadcasts designed to promote inter¬
national interest in the formation of a union of wo rid- wide dem¬
ocracies is being rebroadcast by special recording to Europe,
South America and Canada through the facilities of the World Wide
Broadcasting Foundation.
The processes entailed in the manufacture of the radio
tube will be outlined on the "Visiting Kentucky’s Industries"
broadcast at 4:30 P.M. , EST, over WLW on Sunday, September 8.
The program will originate at the Kenrad Tube and Lamp Corporation,
Owensboro, Ky.
E. Arthur Baldwin and Otto Pruessman have retired as
Vice-Presidents and European and Far Eastern Managers of the
International General Electric Company.
Tom Flanagan, formerly of Time Magazine , has been appoint¬
ed Magazine Division Manager of Columbia’s (CBS) Publicity Depart¬
ment.
Pilot Portable Radio is advertising "Only one cent per
hour - Lowest battery operating cost. "
W2XY0, Ma ckay Radio & Telegraph Company, has been granted
temporary authority to operate an experimental station at Brentwood,
N.Y. , using frequency 159525 kc . , and 80 watts power.
//
The National Broadcasting Company has
addition of the 199th station to its networks -
Montgome ry , Alabama .
announced the
Station WSFA,
For some time WOR has been signing on and off the air
with the "Star Spangled Banner". Looking for an appropriate
announcement to go with the twice daily playing of the National
Anthem, the station’s officials wanted something that would be in
beeping with the spirit of these times, yet not blatantly patriotic.
So WOR will now follow its morning rendition of the Anthem with the
greeting "Good Morning, America.’ " and at night with "Good Night,
America! "
XXXXXXXXXX
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WARNER BROS. STATION SIGNS NEW A3CAP DEAL
Station KFWB, Los Angeles, owned by Warner Bros.
Pictures, Inc. , has signed a new five-year music license with the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
The contract, negotiated by Harry Maizlish, General
Manager of KFWB, and John G. Paine, G-enerai Manager of ASCAP,
embraces the new terms recently announced by the Society, granting
substantial reductions to individual radio stations.
In announcing the signing of the deal, Maizlish state ds
"Warner Bros., as producers of motion pictures, as oper¬
ators of theatres, and Station KFWB, have come to know pretty well
what the public wants in the way of entertainment. Music is a
primary essential. We know ASCAP has the music that the public
wants, and we will give the public what it wants.
"Aside from our obligations under the broadcasting
license granted to us by the FCC, which requires a station to
operate in the public interest, we consider it only good business
to supply the deitfands of the people. Warners have always main¬
tained this policy in their motion picture and theatre activities,
and they are following the same idea in the operation of KFWB.
"We're out to hold and increase our listeners and that's
why we've signed with ASCAP. "
Paine, commenting on the deal, said, in part:
"Through the signing of this contract by KFWB, the public
in the Los Angeles area, one of the most important territories of
the country, will continue to get the best in music. What is also
very important, advertisers are assured of unlimited cooperation
in preparing their programs and thus given an adequate contact with
a large buying public. "
XXXXXXXXXXX
RADIO BILLINGS UP IN AUGUST
National Broadca
13,738,262, an increase of
For the first eight months
rise over the like period
casting Company in August
The total for the first ei
22.2 percent. Mutual bill
percent gain over last yea
an increase of 21. 9 percen
sting Company billings in August totaled
12. 9 percent over August of last year,
the figure was $32,128,576, a 10 percent
of 1939. Billings of the Columbia Broad-
amounted to $2,875,657, up 22.8 percent,
ght months was $26,404,427, a rise of
ings last month totaled $227,865, a 10.9
r. The cumulative total was $2,494,370,
XXXXXXXXX
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
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S£p 1 1 1940 ^
INDEX TO ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 10, 1940
Willkle's F.D. R. Challenge Recalls 1936 Attempt . 2
U. S. Sets 2nd In Portuguese E. Africa . 3
FCC Backs Payne In Texas Revocation . 4
Texas Dailies Operate Station KG-KO Jointly . 4
NAB Bulletin Resented . 5
Local Need Saves Station; Payne Dissents . .....6
Continued Television Interest Of FCC Chairman Indicated . 7
Public Interest Only FCC Program Strike Concern . . . 8
"Gait" Taylor Dies . 8
FCC Extends Chain Broadcasting Briefs Time . .9
Rumanians Hear Minister's Fate Over Radio . . . 9
Trade Notes . 10
Cutler New NBC Director; Egner V~P . 11
Cornell Links With Columbia . 11
New Facsimile Patents For Finch . . . . . . . 12
W0R Executives To Give College Lectures . 12
No. 1264
September 10, 1940.
WILLKIE ' S F.D.R. CHALLENGE RECALLS 1936 ATTEMPT
Wendell Willkie's invitation to President Roosevelt to
debate brings to mind the attempt Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg,
of Michigan, made to do the same thing with Mr. Roosevelt in a
radiobroadcast from Chicago by using electrically transcribed
reproductions of quotations from earlier addresses by the Presi¬
dent. In theory the idea seemed perfect but as it worked out,
the broadcast in its day created almost as much of a sensation,
and in certain quarters as much indignation, as did Orson Welles
the night he had the Martians landing in New Jersey.
It was in the heat of the 1936 presidential campaign and
the thing started as a press agent stunt. Recordings of excerpts
were secured from President Roosevelt's inaugural address of 1933
and his speech of acceptance of 1932 reproducing Roosevelt's voice.
The idea was to play one of these excerpts on a phonograph to be
answered by Senator Vandenberg in person. Then play another, and
Mr. Vandenberg answer that, and so on, - all to be broadcast as a
debate, though explained to the public that it was not the Presi¬
dent actually speaking but a recording.
However, the Columbia Broadcasting System sat down on
the idea flatly, refusing to put the recording on the air. Never¬
theless those in charge of the broadcast went ahead with their
plans just the sarnie, being careful not to inform Senator Vandenberg
that the network had offered any objection. It was the network's
understanding that it was simply to be a speech by Mr. Vandenberg
but the conspirators had a phonograph hidden behind a curtain on
the stage near a microphone.
There were some introductory remarks by Senator Vanden¬
berg the night of the broadcast who referred to something in one
of President Roosevelt's speeches and then turning towards the
phonograph, which, of course, the audience couldn't see, said:
"Let's hear exactly what the President did say." Fnereupon the
voice of President Roosevelt boomed out from the phonograph. This
procedure was repeated. The Senator via the phonograph would have
Mr. Roosevelt make certain remarks and then would answer them.
The procedure was all clear to the a.udience but over the
air it almost caused a riot. Everybody seemed to get the same
idea to tell somebody else about it over the telephone. The result
was that when Columbia broadcasting officials in New York and
Washington tried to communicate with Chicago to have the broadcast
cut off, and when Chicago tried to get New York, nobody could get
anybody because all the telephone switchboards were jammed. One
version of the story was that when Columbia refused to make the
broadcast, those in charge went ahead with it not expecting to
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get away with it but only to get the publicity from having the
broadcast cut off.
When Harry C. Butcher, Vice-President of the Columbia
Broadcasting System in Washington, heard the President’s voice
from the phonograph, his head hit the ceiling because there had
been a long standing rule that no electrically transcribed records
should be broadcast.
"I tried to get New York but all the telephone wires
were jammed with calls", Mr. Butcher said, recalling the incident.
“It was a regular telephone blitzkrieg. I learned later that in
our New York offices far from being able to talk to Chicago, our
people couldn't even talk to each other from the different floors
of their building.
"That was the night I started smoking again after having
been on the wagon for three years. It was the worst mess I ever
saw. :i
Some of the stations cut off the broadcast on their own
initiative but, generally speaking, it is believed that most of the
broadcast got through. There were, of course, immediate explana¬
tions on the part of Columbia to the Federal Communications Com¬
mission and apologies to the President but it was quite awhile
before the incident was considered officially closed.
XXXXXXXX
U.S. SETS 2ND IN PORTUGUESE E. AFRICA
Portuguese East Africa offers a small but steady demand
for radio receivers, the American Consulate, Lourenco Marques,
advises. The principal American and foreign radio manufacturers
are represented by local agents at Lourenco Marques and Beira.
According to latest official statistics, 2,910 receiving sets are
registered for license purposes. Of this number, a Dutch product
leads with 743 sets, two American makes are next with 396 and 292
sets, respectively, a British product is fourth with 278 sets, and
another American make is fifth with 246 sets.
Imports of radio receiving sets in 1938 totaled 1,078,
being supplied by the following countries: United States 393,
Netherlands 495, Germany 86, United Kingdom 70, and all others 34.
All sets and parts are imported as there is no local manufacture.
XXXXXXXXX
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FCC BACKS PAYNE IN TEXAS REVOCATION
The Federal Communications Commission has affirmed the
recommendation of Commissioner Payne to revoke the license of
Eagle Broadcasting Co., Inc. (KOFI), Brownsville, Texas, as follows:
"Upon consideration of all the facts of record, the Com¬
mission concludes in its Proposed Findings that ;the respondent,
Eagle Broadcasting Company, Inc. , licensee of Station KGFI, on
October 10, 1938, without the consent in writing of this Commis¬
sion transferred and delivered to James G-. Ulmer and M. D.
Gallagher, their heirs, successors and assigns, complete and
exclusive possession, management, operation and control of said
station, and also assigned and transferred to them all of the
rights theretofore granted to the licensee corporation in and by
the terms of the station license, in violation of Section 310(b)
of the Communications Act of 1934 as amended and the Rules and
Regulations of the Commission .
"’The respondent corooration failed to file with the
Commission the said contract with James G. Ulmer and M. D. Gallagher,
or other information, affecting and concerning the ownership,
operation and control of Station KGFI, as required by, and in
violation of, the Rules and Regulations of the Commission. . . .
Such acts and conduct on the part of the respondent constitute
grounds for revocation of the license to operate said Sta.tion KGFI.
issued by this Commission to the Eagle Broadcasting Co. , Inc. In
view of the foregoing, the revocation order heretofore entered in
this ma.tter on the 22nd day of March, 1940, should be affirmed. ’ "
XXXXXXXXXX
TEXAS DAILIES OPERATE STATION KGKO JOINTLY
The Dalles Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
assumed joint operation of Station KGKO, Fort Worth, following the
purchase of half- interest in the KGKO Broadcasting Corp. from the
Star- Tele gram by the News. The two papers have shared the 800-
kilocycle channel on WFAA-WBAP almost continuously since 1922.
Officers of the KGKO Broadcasting Corp. , representing the
newspapers, include: Chairman of the Board, G. B. Dealey, Chairman
of the Board of the News; President, Amon G. Carter, President of
the Star- Tele gram ; Vice-Presidents, E. M. (Ted) Dealey, President
of the News , and B. N. Honea, Vice-President and General Manager of
the Star^Telegram: Treasurer, James M. Moroney, Vice-President and
Secretary of the News; Secretary, Harold V. Hough, Treasurer and
Circulation Manager of the Star- Tele gram. Mr. Moroney and Mr.
Hough will supervise the radio properties of their newspapers in
their respective cities.
Martin B. Campbell, former General Manager of WFAA, and
Sales Manager of WFAA-WBAP, is now Managing Director of WFAA-WBAP
and KGKO.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 4 -
9/10/40
NAB BULLETIN RESENTED
When it became known that the War Department had appro¬
priated $250,000 for advertising in newspapers and farm papers to
promote Army recruiting, some of the leaders of organized broad¬
casting became excited, the Editor & Publisher says in an editorial.
They went to Washington and told the Department that they didn't
want any compensation for radio's recruiting announcements, but
believed that the earmarking of funds for other media, with radio
omitted, put radio at a competitive disadvantage; that the Army's
preference would be used as proof that newspapers were a superior
medium.
"That's silly enough, by itself," the editorial continues,
"but the Aug. 24 bulletin of the National Association of Broad¬
casters adds this:
. . evidently radio operators have a more generous
patriotic sense than have newspaper publishers because it was
stated that at no time had the War Department been asked to pur¬
chase radio advertising time for recruiting or national defense
purposes. 1
"Editor & Publisher advocated some weeks ago that the
Department provide funds for newspaper advertising in the interests
of recruiting. So far as we know, no official representative of
any newspaper or newspapers did likewise. And from what we have
since learned, the appropriation had been determined, but not
announced, prior to our editorial. In our own mind - concerning
which we are competent to speak - there was no question of patriot¬
ism.
"We believed that display space in newspapers would do
for the Army what it has done for others who have used it intel¬
ligently, deliver the goods more quickly and economically than any
other medium.
"We still think so. We'll also stack the thousands of
columns given by newspapers to all phases of national defense, as a
test of patriotism, against the 50-second trailing announcements
for recruiting donated by the broadcasters - if such a test weren't
asinine from either standpoint. There isn't any question of rela¬
tive patriotism between press and radio. Each has its function in
the promotion of national defense.
"We'd feel better if we heard that the next bulletin of
the N. A. B. had withdrawal the unwarranted slur on newspapers and
called the incident closed. "
XXXXXXXXXX
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LOCAL NEED SAVES STATION; PAYNE DISSENTS
Rather than deprive a community of its only local broad¬
cast station, and because previously offending licensees are now
acting in good faith, the Federal Communications Commission has
rescinded an order of revocation in the case of Station KAND,
operated by the Navarro Broadcasting Association, Corsicana, Texas,
Commissioner George Henry Payne issued a dissenting opinion.
The revocation order was issued last February, at which
time it was disclosed that the station misrepresented their inten¬
tions as to the financing, construction, control and ope ration of
the station in securing their original construction permit and
station license. In addition, it was found that they transferred
the rights granted them to James G. Ulmer and Roy G. Terry without
Commission consent. "These facts taken alone would support an
affirmation of the Commission’s Order of Revocation", observes the
Commission in its Decision and Order. However, balancing factors
in the record lead the Commission to be lenient.
"I disagree with the action taken by the Commission in
dismissing the revocation order in the Navarro Broadcasting
Association case issued on February 7, 1940", Commissioner Payne
said in dissenting. "in my opinion the charges made by the Com¬
mission in this order are fully established by the record of the
hearing at which I presided. Nothing has happened since the hear¬
ing to change my mind.
"This case is not so dissimilar from the Eagle Broadcast¬
ing Company, Inc., case, Station KGFI, Brownsville, Texas, in which
the Commission affirmed the revocation order, as to justify con¬
trary action.
"If J. C. West and Frederick Slauson were animated by
good faith they would have filed voluntarily the contract of
September 14, 1937, between themselves and Ulmer, covering the
operation of Station KAND. This they failed to do. With the dis¬
missal of the revocation order these people who, in my opinion,
have been guilty of many infringements of the Act and regulations,
go scotfree.
"The decision of the Commission in the Westinghouse case
this week, from which I also dissented and which has been followed
in the present case, is in my opinion a very bad precedent and may
give the Commission a great deal of perturbation in the future. "
X X X X X X X X
St. Louis University at St. Louis, Missouri, has applied
to the Federal Communications Commission for a construction permit
for a new high frequency broadcast station to be operated on 44300
kilocycles, coverage 13500 square miles, population 1,682,500.
XXXXXXXX
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TINUED TELEVISION INTEREST OF FCO CHAIRMAN INDICATED
That Chairman James L. Fly is still giving particular
thought to television development was indicated by the fact that
this subject again dominated his weekly informal press conference.
Chairman Fly said that the National Television Systems Committee
will view a color television demonstration when they meet in New
York City Tuesday, September 17. The Commission was invited to
attend this meeting but will not be able to do so because the
date happens to fall on a regular meeting day of the FCC. However,
Commander E. K. Jett, Chief Engineer of the Commission, and Com¬
missioner George Henry Payne, the latter happening to be in New
York at that time, may go.
Chairman Fly said he didn't think the Commission as a
whole should make another trip to see television just now but does
think that later some members, or all, should see subsequent techni¬
cal developments. Replying to an inquiry as to what sort of
developments these might be, the Chairman said that he wasn't
exactly sure but he thought they would involve RCA experimentation
with more lines, Dumont developments of retentive tubes, and pos¬
sible developments at Phi'lco and General Electric. Mr. Grly said
he hadn't talked over with the other Commissioners such a proposal
but might want to make an inspection trip during the month.
Asked if there had been any reaction to his suggestion
about the motion picture people coordinating with the television
industry in the latter's programs, the Chairman said he had dis¬
cussed the subject with one or two motion picture people out West
and they seemed interested. When asked why no television applica¬
tions had been received from the moving picture people, the Chair¬
man ascribed the chief reason as being the same as with a lot of
others - no commercial television operation as yet. What he wanted
was for all people interested to move in and help develop televi¬
sion.
Someone wanted to know if the advent of color would make
any difference in the television standards which might be adopted
and would it mean that black and white would not now be countenanced
The Chairman asserted that the question had not come down to that
and he would be surprised if there was any move to do away with
black and white. He said it was more of a question of how good
black and white could be made and how practical color is. As to
standards, Mr. Fly declared a.ll seemed pretty well agreed that the
FCC was "righter than we knew" in not months ago bolting down the
standards then offered. He said the industry was now making
practical studies and going places,
In answer to an inquiry about the added cost in color,
Chairman Fly replied that he had understood Dr. Goldmark's (of CBS'
statements as indicating 10 or 15$ difference on a $300 set, per¬
haps only 10$. Mr. Fly wanred those attending the conference that
he doesn't know how feasible color television is and doesn't pre¬
tend to say when and if it can be used. He just didn't know but
said what he had seen aroused his interest and enthusiasm.
X X X X X X X X
- 7 -
Ol o - : i k b 03 ^ Q & - * O - wJ
9/10/40
PUBLIC INTEREST ONLY FCC PROGRAM STRIKE CONCERN
Until the public interest is jeopardized, the Federal
Communications Commission will take no hand in the controversy
and threatened strike of performers, singers and announcers appear¬
ing on sustaining programs. Even then the FCC, which has no power
of censorship and does not concern itself with programs, would
probably move with considerable caution to keep from becoming
involved in a labor dispute.
XXXXXXXXXX
"GAIT" TAYLOR DIES
Following an illness of several months, F. Gaither "Gait"
Taylor, 38 years old, former advertising manager of Broadcasting
Magazine , died at 1:30 o’clock Thursday morning last at the Glen¬
dale Sanitarium in Glendale, Md.
Mr. Taylor, bom in Terre Haute, Ind. , and a graduate
of Wiley High School, formerly had been a member of the advertis¬
ing staff of the Terre Haute Tribune for nearly ten years.
After leaving there, he joined the advertising staff of
Station WMT in Waterloo, Iowa, and then served as Advertising
Manager of Broadcasting. During the last two years, he had been
Manager of the Radio Division of the Advertising Department for
Variety Magazine, with headquarters in Washington, D. C.
Surviving are the widow, Diana; one daughter, Diane; three,
sisters, Mrs. J. H. Cusick and Mrs. J. Donald Caldwell, both of
Terre Haute, and Mrs. Thomas Crodian of Crawfordsville , Ind; two
brothers, Joseph of Miami, Fla. , and Myron of Sarasota, Fla. , and
the parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Taylor, also of Sarasota.
The burial was in Roselawn Cemetery at Mr. Taylor’s old
home in Terre Haute last Saturday.
XXXXXXXXXX
The Federal Communications Commission granted the appli-
cation of Worcester Broadcasting Com. , for a new station at San
Diego, Calif. , to operate on the frequency 1420 kilocycles with
power of 250 watts, unlimited time.
XXXXXXXXXX
8
.
9/10/40
FCC EXTENDS CHAIN BROADCASTING BRIEFS TIME
To meet the request of the major networks for more time
in which to file briefs in connection with the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission committee report on chain broadcasting, the
Commission has announced that the time originally set for receiv¬
ing such briefs (September 15) will be extended until October 25.
This was upon consideration of the requests of the
National Broadcasting Company and the Columbia Broadcasting System,
which asked that the time be extended to December 15 and December 1
respectively, and the Independent Radio Network Affiliates, which
also asked for more time. These networks stated that the committee
report, submitted to the Commission on June 12, is so voluminous
that considerable study of its 1300 pages and of the record itself
is necessary before briefs can be compiled to properly cover the
subject a.nd adequately represent their views.
XXXXXXXXXX
RUMANIANS HEAR MINISTER* S FATE OVER RADIO
Sudden changes in the government of distant Rumania,
sending King Carol II and his red-haired friend, Magda Lupescu, to
Switzerland in hasty exit, had their repercussions in Washington
yesterday (Sept. 9).
Attaches of the Rumanian Legation were listening with
interest Monday night to a news broadcast from Bucharest. The
Columbia Broadcasting System reporter, Spencer Williams, was des¬
cribing changes that have taken place in the three days since
iron-willed Gen. Ion Antonescue secured power in Rumania, installing
Prince Mihai as nominal ruler.
Suddenly the group around the radio heard words that threw
them into consternation. The radio reporter told his listeners
that Radu Irimescu, Rumanian Minister to Washington, had been re¬
called, together with the Envoys to a half a dozen other capitals
in a general shakeup of the diplomatic corps.
A Washington Post reporter arriving at the Legation a
few minutes later found the staff nervous, worried and inclined to
caution. A secretary, who was so moved by the news he had heard
that he asked that his name be withheld, said that no official
confirmation had been received.
Radu Irimescu, a Legation Attache said, was in the
country for the day and could not be reached. The Military Attache,
Col. Dumitru Petrescu, who is an honorary aide de camp to Carol,
bad no confirmation of the news broadcast. Mr. Iremescu, strong-
jawed and forceful in manner, has represented Rumania in this
country since April 1938.
XXXXXXXX
- 9 -
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TRADE NOTES
E. K. Cohan, Director of Engineering of the Columbia
Broadcasting System, tells about the new 50,000-watt transmitter
being constructed for WABC, CBS's key station in New York City,
when he is guest speaker on "Adventures in Science", Thursday,
Sept. 12 (CBS, not" WABC, 3:00 P.M. , EST) .
The Navy approved plans this week for seven schools
in six naval district to train 4000 radiomen and signalmen in
the U. S. Naval Reserve. Applicants, from 17 to 35 years old,
will enlist in the reserve on an active duty statuswith pay while
undergoing four months of training.
Station WG-N at Chicago has applied for a modification of
construction permit for a new relay broadcast station, to change
frequencies to 156750, 158400, 159300, 161100 kilocycles in
accordance with new Group I frequencies, and to extend commence¬
ment and completion dates from 6/27/40 and 12/27/40 to 10 days
after grant and 60 days thereafter.
Jennings Pierce, who has directed agricultural and edu¬
cational programs for the Western Division of the National Broad¬
casting Company since they originated nine years ago, received an
Honorary State Farmer award at the California State Fair in
Sacramento Friday of last week.
A license has been applied for by Station WRNL, Richmond
Radio Corporation, Richmond, Va., to cover construction permit for
new transmitter, installation of directional antenna for day and
night use, increase in power, and change in hours of operation
(880 kc.); also authority to determine operating power by direct
measurement of antenna power (880 kc. ) .
George R. Clapp, formerly Program Director of WENY,
Elmira, N.Y., has joined the Mutual network's program staff.
The Federal Communications Commission has suspended the
amateur radio operator license of Louis Raymond Choiniere, Holyoke
Mass., for a period of three months, for "deceptive tactics" in
broadcasting music and singing in "deliberate violation" of cer¬
tain rules governing amateur stations.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
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9/10/40
CUTLER NEW NBC DIRECTOR; EGNER V-P
Bertram Cutler, a Director of the Radio Corporation last
Friday was elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Na¬
tional Broadcasting Company. Mr. Cutler, in addition to membership
on the Board of the New York Central Railroad, participates in the
direction of four other railroad companies. He also is a Director
of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York, the Merchants
Fire Assurance Corporation, and the Chase National Bank.
C. Lloyd Egner was elected a Vice-President of the NBC
at its regular monthly meeting. Mr. Egner1 s elevation to the vice¬
presidency marks the growing importance of the NBC Radio- Re cording
Division, which he has headed since its establishment in 1934.
Mr. Egner was Manager of Record and Recording Sales for
the RCA Manufacturing Company in Camden before joining NBC. He has
made NBC’s Radio Recording Division one of the world’s largest
transcription services. Under Mr. Egner’ s management the trans¬
cription service has grown until today the Radio-Recording Divi¬
sion’s Thesaurus, a library service of recorded music, is used by
more than 225 stations in the United States, Canada and countries
throughout the world.
Besides the Thesaurus, the Radio- Recording Division makes
recordings of programs for national advertisers for spot and local
sales campaigns. The division has a complete staff of writers,
directors and production men capable of producing any type of
transcription.
Last year the Ra.dio-Recording Division introduced a new
system of recording and reproducing transcriptions, known as the
Orthacoustic. This system, is said to incorporate new and higher
standards of sound recording from the microphone to the turntable.
xxxxxxxxx
CORNELL LINKS WITH COLUMBIA
After more than twenty years of experience with operating
an educational broadcasting station, Cornell University will expand
this medium October 1. Its station, WHCU, recently named the prin¬
cipal Eastern university representative of the Columbia Broadcast¬
ing System, will also originate for the network programs of inform¬
ation and entertainment in which students and faculty will partici¬
pate.
Operating during daytime hours, the campus studio will
he augmented by another in downtown Ithaca, completed at a cost of
about $25,000.
The Cornell Radio Guild of more than 300 students will
play a large part in the new program after preparation in basic
courses in radio technique. Students in the communications depart,
ment of the School of Electrical Engineering will fill most of the
positions in the technical operation of the station as assistants
to the regular engineering staff.
XXXXXXXX
11
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9/10/40
NEW FACSIMILE PATENTS FOR FINCH
William G. H. Finch, President of Finch Telecommunica¬
tions, Inc., Passaic, N.J., manufacturers of facsimile equipment,
was awarded by the U. S. Patent office four additional patents on
facsimile apparatus designed to increase the speed, efficiency and
clarity of the process.
The granting of a multi-stylus or triple pen facsimile
recorder patent doubles the speed of the process, Mr. Finch said.
It is now possible to receive 22 square inches or 300 six-point-
type words per minute. This is about five times the speed of a
leased teletype, it was stated. Pictures, Maps and signed docu¬
ments may be transmitted at the same high speed. The triple pen
recorder when used through the application of frequency modulation,
is capable of receiving the equivalent of eight tabloid newspaper
pages an hour, simultaneously with sound programs.
The second and third patents issued to Mr. Finch cover
the phase of radio facsimile synchronizing between the transmitter
and receiver.
The fourth patent covers Mr. Finch’ s system of limiting
the surges and recording signal level, thereby insuring high qual¬
ity facsimile reproductions.
Mr. Finch also announced that the British government
this week took over in its entirety the French contract for Finch
equipment.
xxxxxxxxxxx
WOR EXECUTIVES TO GIVE COLLEGE LECTURES
Julius F. Seebach, Jr. , WOR Vice-President in Charge of
Program Operations, and Charles W. Godwin, WOR Production Director,
are among the guest lecturers to be heard during the Radio Survey
and Station Practice Course to be held at City College in New York
this Fall. The course is conducted by Seymour N. Siegel, Program
Director of Municipal Station WNYC, and Dorothy N. Davids, former
radio consultant to New York University.
During the semester, the City College radio students
will also be taken on special guided tours of WOR's New York
studios.
xxxxxxxxxx
12
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
r mm MJCMP SV*. ■'
LEtsAL DlaaRTMENT
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y «. P
INDEX TO ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 13, 1940
777 Of 862 Stations Affected In North American Shakeup . 2
FCC Moves Down To Memphis. . . . . 5
Baltimore Station Up To 50 KW . 5
Roosevelt Brothers On Opposite Sides Of Musical Fence . 6
Facsimile Stations Number Sixteen . 7
Omaha-Denver Cables Provide More Network Facilities . ,...8 —
New Westinghouse Radio Manufacturing Head . 8
Radiosonde Service Expanded . ,9
Nazi Hatred For Roosevelt Told By Commentator . 9
Trade Notes . 11
New FM Applications Increase Steadily . 12
FCC Attorneys Approved . 12
No. 1265
777 OF 862 STATIONS AFFECTED IN NORTH AFRICAN SHAKEUP
In conformity with provisions of the North American
Regional Broadcasting Agreement, the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion has filed with the State Department its proposed reallocation
of frequencies in the standard broadcast band, to go into effect
simultaneously with the pact March 29, 1941. The signatory govern¬
ments are exchanging their respective tentative assignments for
final check before making them operative.
Changes necessitated by the Havana agreement will affect
777 of the 862 radio stations now operating in the standard broad¬
cast band (550 to 1600 kilocycles) in the United States. In shift¬
ing the United States frequencies the Commission plans but minimum
alteration in the present broadcast service.
Here, in general, is how the domestic shift will be
accomplished:
Stations now operating on channels of from 550 to 720 kilo¬
cycles will retain their present assignments.
Stations operating between 740 and 780 kilocycles will move
up 10 kilocycles (which is the engineering equivalent to
one channel).
Stations using from 790 to 870 kilocycles will move up
20 kilocycles (two channels).
Stations between 880 and 1450 kilocycles will generally
advance 30 kilocycles (three channels).
Clear channel stations will shift from 1460-1490 kilo¬
cycles to 1500-1530 kilocycles.
Local stations now on 1500 kilocycles will move down one
channel - to 1490 kilocycles.
The chief noticeable difference to the average listener
will be that his favorite station above 730 kilocycles will occupy
a slightly different place on his receiver dial - usually higher.
Receivers with push-button tuning will have to have these controls
readjusted for all stations higher on the dial than WLW or WON.
This can be done at any time after March 29th next. It will take
only a few minutes to make the necessary readjustments. Otherwise,
the general tuning-in process will be no different than at present.
The extent of the broadcast band remains the same and station ser¬
vice is unchanged.
3
9/13/40
However, the correlated shifting of the frequencies of
some 100 broadcast stations in Canada, and of numerous stations
in Mexico and Cuba will serve to eliminate in considerable measure
the long-complained of interference from these sources, and thereby
improve broadcast reception in the North American continent gen¬
erally. Interference from Mexican and Cuban stations has been
particularly objectionable to the rural listeners.
For one thing, certain obnoxious broadcast stations on
the Mexican border are to be eliminated. These stations are
largely run by persons denied the use of frequencies in the United
States. They have featured the types of programs which caused them
to be eliminated from the United States scene. The Havana pact
contains no orovision for the continued operation of these high-
powered stations just across the border.
The United States broadcaster, on his part, does not
have to replace present transmission and other expensive equipment.
His chief concern will be to change the quartz crystals which con¬
trol a station's operating frequency. Though this is a small item,
it will take some time to obtain the 2000 or more needed crystals
from the comparatively few manufacturers who grind and calibrate
them to order.
In carrying out the agreement, the Commission has made
every effort "to preserve the broadcast structure in the United
States so that minimum interference in frequency assignments would
be required. " Of course, blanket shifts were not possible in every
instance, and certain stations had to be considered individually in
their relation to the new set-up as a whole. When a considerable
change in frequency was found imperative, the Commission's engi¬
neers have striven to provide a new assignment with less potential
interference than exists on the present frequency, or the licensee
is afforded opportunity to increase his power to maintain sub¬
stantially his present service area. In making such general re¬
allocations, however, it is necessary for the Commission to amend
its rules governing standard broadcast stations in some technical
particulars.
By far the large st portion of the 777 stations which have
to shift will be those stations which will move up 30 kilocycles.
A breakdown of the effect of the change on the 862 standard broad¬
cast stations follows:
Change Nurabe r o f
Stations Affected
No change 85
Move up 10 kilocycles . 20
Move up 20 kilocycles . 26
Move up 30 kilocycles . 614
Move up 40 Ailocycies . 25
Move down 10 kilocycles . 64
Irregular shifts . 28
3
9/13/40
Any broadcaster has until October 15th to register his
views if he takes exception to his individual assignment.
The practical effect of the agreement is to establish
principles paralleling the allocation and engineering standards
put into effect by the Commission in 1939. In fact, the existing
plan was drafted to meet the changes proposed in the then impending
agreement. In preparation for reallocation, the Commission set
all outstanding standard broadcast authorizations to expire
October 1. This date is now extended to be coincident with the
effective date of the Havana pact - March 29th next.
The treaty itself does not specify the changes which
must be made in the operating frequencies of broadcast stations
in the United States. Nor does it designate the operating assign¬
ment of individual stations. However, the assignment of certain
classes of stations in Canada, Cuba, and Mexico very nearly con¬
trols the assignments in the United States.
It was particularly necessary to provide five clear
channels for Mexico which, prior to the agreement, had no fre¬
quencies reserved for high power stations in the standard broad¬
cast band. So, some changes in the allocation structure previously
set up by the Commission was necessary.
Two clear channels were obtained by taking United States
stations on the present 1010 kilocycle regional channel and the
present 1180 kilocycle clear channel and reassigning these sta¬
tions to different frequencies. Three additional channels were
secured by shifting the frequencies of stations commencing with
the 740 kilocycle clear channel to other channels - 10, 20 and
30, and in some cases 40, kilocycles above the channel now occupied.
In this manner a clear channel is provided at 740 kilocycles,
another at 800 kilocycles, and still another at 900 kilocycles.
Thus, five channels are made available for use by Mexican stations.
Canada, provided an additional clear channel for Cuba.
Under the reassignments, the United States still retains
six local channels. Its number of regional channels has been
reduced from 42 to 41, On the other hand, its number of clear
channels has increased from 44 to 59, and it can use 15 additional
clear channels under certain restrictions set out in the treaty.
The compact is a mutual arrangement to allocate fre¬
quencies for the best public service in the countries involved and
typifies the high spirit of cooperation among the participating
nations. Under the arrangement, lists of proposed station assign¬
ments of these countries are exchanged in advance of the effective
date of the agreement. This is done in order that any remaining
technical problems may be worked out before actual operations begin.
Of particular concern to the United States listener is
the indication that the domestic assignments as worked out by the
Commission’s engineers will mean a very material lessening of the
interference which stations in this country now suffer from broad¬
casts emanating principally in Mexico and Cuba.
4
9/13/40
The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement was
reached at Havana on December 13, 1937. It was ratified by the
four countries concerned. Formal filing by the fourth of these
(mexico) on March 29, 1940, confirmed the agreement and makes it
operative one year from that date. Previously there was no real
compact with respect, to sharing of frequencies by the principal
countries of this continent for the best mutual advantage.
The Commission stresses that the agreement should not,
in any sense, be interpreted as creating any vested rights to
broadcasters in the new frequencies thus established. That broad¬
cast channels are public domain for use in the public interest,
convenience and necessity is attested by statute and rule require¬
ment that licenses are for limited terms and broadcasters are re¬
licensed at stated intervals only upon showing of proper public
service .
The Commission entered an order further extending
standard broadcast station authorizations expiring October 1, 1940,
for an additional period ending March 29, 1941. This order, in
connection with the North American reallocations, applies to all
standard broadcasting station licensees and extends the expiration
date of all such licenses for which applications for renewal have
been filed. If an application for renewal for regular operation
covering the period beyond August 1, 1940, has been filed, it will
not be necessary to refile such application under the provisions
of the Commission’s order.
xxxxxxxxxxx
FCC MOVES DOWN TO MEMPHIS
A nice little joy-ride is ahead of the Federal Communica'
tions when it holds a hearing October 28th at Memphis, Term. , to
look into the needs of radio- telephone communication on the
Mississippi River and its tributaries.
The hearing is pursuant to action of the Commission on
May 14th last in announcing suspension of action on all pending
applications involving coastal radio stations in that area pend¬
ing such hearing. The designated place of hearing is to meet the
convenience of some 15 shipping companies, as well as other inter¬
ested parties.
XXXXXXXXXX
BALTIMORE STATION UP TO 50 KW
The power of WBAL in Baltimore has been increased from
10 to 50 kilowatts and hereafter will operate on an unlimited time
basis. Station WTIC at Hartford, which has been sharing time with
Station WBAL on 1060 kc . , will also be unlimited but will use the
1040 channel.
XXXXXXXXXX
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9/13/40
ROOSEVELT BROTHERS ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF MUSICAL FENCE
A newspaper report tells of Franklin Roosevelt, Jr. ,
having recently written the music for a new song, the words of
which were written by someone else, which has been submitted to
Broadcast Music, Inc.
In a release to all broadcasters sent out this week by
the American Society of Composers, the information is given out
that Elliott Roosevelt had declared his faith in ASCAP by signing
a new contract to use their music effective as of January 1, 1941.
The letter sent out by John G. Paine, General Manager of
ASCAP, follows:
"The early bird catches the worm.* That’s just as true
today as it ever was. It’s the boys who are self-starters who
bring home the bacon.
’’Elliott Roosevelt, of the Texas State Network, and Harry
Maizlish, of KFWB, Los Angeles, are two outstanding go-getters who
are on the job, while so many others are still asleep at the switch.
” They * ve signed the new contracts with ASCAP and are now
lining up additional sponsors. Many others who have signed will
also have a flying head start for the new year.
MASCAP’s responsibility to the public is our primary con¬
sideration. The public will get its music through these stations,
and the great number of non-profit stations to whom we give licenses
gratis. The public is smart. It knows that it can dial in and
dial out — and that a twist of the wrist will bring it the music
it wants.
"New Year's Day is rapidly approaching. May we suggest
that it is not too soon to start thinking about what you are going
to use for music, and what you are going to use for profits begin¬
ning January 1st? And we don't mean promises of music and promises
of profits.
"Meantime, I’d like to suggest that you refer to my
letter of June 18th, in which we announced reductions involving
substantial savings to most stations, plus clearance at the source.
"We will be pleased to work out your contract with you
and to give you every cooperation to make 1941 your banner year. "
XXXXXXXXXX
6
9/13/40
/ j
FACSIMILE STATIONS NUMBER SIXTEEN
According to a new listing published by the Federal
Communications Commission, there are at present sixteen facsimile
broadcast stations in the United States. They are as follows:
Bamberger Broadcasting Service, Inc.
New York, New York
W2XU?
Frequency
25250 kc
Power
100 w.
A. H. Belo Corporation,
Dallas, Texas
W5XG-R
25250
100 w.
The Cincinnati Times-Star Co. ,
Cincinnati, Ohio
W8XVC
25175
100 w.
Courier- Journal and
Louisville Times Company,
N. E. of Eastwood, Kentucky
W9XWT
25250
500 w.
The Crosley Corporation,
Cincinnati, Ohio
W8XUJ
25025
1 KW
William G-. H. Finch,
New York, New York
W2X3F
43740
1 KW
The National Life and Accident
Insurance Company, Inc.,
Nashville, Tennessee
W4XIK
25250
1 KW
The Pulitzer Publishing Company,
St. Louis, Missouri
W9XZY
25100
100 w.
Radio Pictures, Inc. ,
Long Island City, New York
W2XR
43580
500 w.
Spark s-Withington Company,
Jackson, Michigan
W8XUF
43900
100 w.
Star- Times Publishing Company,
St. Louis, Missouri
W9XSP
25250
100 w.
Symons Broadcasting Co. ,
Spokane, Washington
W7XSW
25150
100 w.
United Broadcasting Company,
Cleveland, Ohio
W8XE
43620
100 w.
WBEN, Incorporated,
Buffalo, New York
W8XA
43700
100 w.
WBNS, Incorporated,
Columbus, Ohio
W8XUM
25200
100 w.
WOKO, Inc. ,
Albany, New York
XXXXXXXX
W2XWE
X X X X
25050
X X
500 w.
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9/15/40
0 MAH A- DENVE R CABLES PROVIDES MORE NETWORK FACILITIES
Another link to relieve transcontinental telephone con¬
gestion and radio network program transmission is in prospect as
a result of the Federal Communications Commission approving a joint
application by the American Telephone and Telegraph "Company and
the Northwestern Bell Telephone "Company for authority to install
twin all-weather cables between Omaha, Nebr. , and Denver, Colo. ,
a distance of 660 miles.
This is the largest single project of its kind which
has yet been approved by the Commission. Its estimated cost is
$7,635,000, of which amount $4,825,000 will be for outside plant
equipment and $2,783,000 for carrier and associated equipment.
The dual Omaha-Denver cables will be plowed underground
simultaneously except in metropolitan districts where they will be
placed in underground conduit. This will protect the system
against storms. Open-wire connections in this area are subject to
ice accumulation, which has caused 19 serious interruptions to the
existing out-door Omaha-Denver line in the last 12 years. The
method of "plowing inn two cables at once has been but recently
developed by the Bell System.
The proposed cable route would pass through Cheyenne , Wyo.
It is understood that plans are being made for an extension from
Cheyenne to Salt Lake City, Utah, and later to the Pacific Coast
to further reinforce the transcontinental system.
It is proposed to install a large number of type K car¬
rier systems on the Omaha-Denver link as the need arises. Each K
system will provide 12 carrier channels on each two pairs of con¬
ductors. One pair in one of the cables will provide transmission
in one direction, while the second pair in the second cable will
afford transmission in the opposite direction. This system will
operate on a frequency range of from approximately 12,000 to 60,000
cycles. These 12 channels may be employed for handling that many
ordinary message telephone circuits, or for as many as 144 tele¬
graph circuits. In operation each type K system would be likely to
carry some telephone and some telegraph circuits. For radio net¬
work program transmission, two or three adjacent carrier channels
may be combined to give a single high-quality program channel.
XXXXXXXXX
NEW WESTINGHOUSE RADIO MANUFACTURING HEAD
L. 0. Myhre has been appointed Manager of Manufacturing in
the Radio Division of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Com¬
pany, it has been announced by Walter Evans, Manager of the Divi¬
sion. Mr. Myhre goes to Baltimore to assume his new duties from
Long Island City, N.Y. , where he was Manager of Engineering and
Manufacturing for the Westinghouse X-Ray Company.
XXXXXXXXX
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9/13/40
RADIOSONDE SERVICE EXPANDED
Since the audio-modulation type radio-sonde was origi¬
nally developed by the Navy Department, it has been expanded to
include 35 land and 10 shipboard stations, using more than 1,000
radiosondes per month, the National Bureau of Standards reports.
The experiments by the Weather Bureau, Navy Department, and Coast
Guard during 1938-39 showed the value of this method of radio
sounding.
Despite the wide-spread dispersion of the stations in
use, only about 4 percent of the radiosondes were in any degree
damaged in shipment, and 95 percent of the soundings gave satis¬
factory records. An analysis of over 5,000 soundings shows that
over 90 percent reached heights of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) and
70 percent reached heights of 15 kilometers (9.32 miles). Labora¬
tory and flight data on the performance of the radiosonde show that
the pressure measurements are accurate within 5 millibars, the
temperature measurements within 0.75° C down to -50°C, and the hum¬
idity measurements within 5-percent relative humidity when discount¬
ing the lag in response of the hair hygrometer.
Since the radiosonde was first used important improvements
have been developed, such as the simplification of the transmitter,
thermal insulation of the battery, refinement of the transmitter and
temperature element, so that they can be manufactured to sufficient¬
ly close tolerances to eliminate the need for individual calibra¬
tion, and use of an electric hygrometer for measuring relative
humidity. The new instrument is already in service at nine Navy
Department stations and has proved to be superior in performance to
the older type.
XXXXXXXXXX
NAZI HATRED FOR ROOSEVELT TOLD BY COMMENTATOR
At press and radio conferences in Berlin, there were fre¬
quent attacks on President Roosevelt, according to Warren Irvin, a
radio commentator of the British Broadcasting Company. Before go¬
ing to London, Mr. Irvin spent eight months in Germany as Berlin
commentator for an American radio chain.
nIndeed, I question whether the Nazis’ hatred of Mr.
Churchill is more intense than their hatred of the President”, Mr.
Irvin writes in ’’London Calling”. "Some of them even admitted to
me> at the time the ’phoney’ Polish documents were handed out in
Berlin last March, that the object was to embarrass the President
and try to defeat him in the coming election campaign. ”
Mr. Irvin gave this interesting sidelight on Lord
Haw Haw:
9
9/13/40
"A familiar figure at the Berlin Radio Station was Joyce,
known to you as Lord Haw-Haw - because, contrary to the general
impression, Joyce doesn’t speak from Bremen, he speaks from
Berlin. Many of the programs announced as from Hamburg, Stuttgart
and other points come actually from Berlin. Indeed, I’ve often
suspected that some of the Nazi ’front programs’ you may have heard,
with their machine-guns, cannon, and other warlike trappings, are
actually produced in the Berlin studio. The Nazis are perfectly
capable of such tricks and are past-masters in the art of faking.
"But to get back to Joyce. Though he is the real Lord
Haw-Haw, as everyone in Britain is now aware, he has understudies
who play the role occasionally. One of them is Edward Dietze,
the son of a German father and English mother. In the Berlin Radio
Station one night, just after the London papers had disclosed Haw-
Haw's identity, I heard Joyce say to Dietze: 'I think you’d better
be Lord Haw-Haw tonight. ’
"Near the speaking booths from which we used to talk is
a small waiting room, a room which British tourists in Berlin may
want to visit when the present war is over. Because on the wall
of the waiting room hang caricatures of nearly all the Nazi speakers
and there, among the rese, is Joyce as Lord Haw-Haw.
"For us, as Americans in Berlin, working conditions were
anything but pleasant. One had constantly to be on one’s guard
against Nazi trickery. They were forever trying to palm off ficti¬
tious stories on us. A favorite device was to send German news¬
papermen around to whisper such stories to us 'confidentially' -
but we soon fcaught on to this trick, and the Na is met with little
success .
"While the correspondents were not subject to censorship ^
we (the radio commentators') were subject to three. The Nazis won t
like my telling you this. It is supposed to be a deep, dark secret;
because the Nazis are very anxious to make the world believe that
there is no such thing as censorship of news coming from Berlin.
"The newspaper correspondents who ’play the game’ are sure
of being rewarded; but those who don’t are almost equally sure of
being disciplined. If the story of a foreign corre spondent offends
the Nazi powers- th-be , he may find that when next a party is taken
on a trip to the front, there will be no room for him.
"Should this gentle hint prove insufficient, he may find
that important stories are being handed out to his competitors some
two or three hours before they get to him; and if this has no
effect, the chances are either that he will be expelled from the
country, or, when next he leaves on holiday, be refused a visa to
return.
, "With Americans, the latter method is favored. The Nazis
don t like to expel American correspondents; such expulsions are
given too much publicity. Besides, if they did so too often, the
American Government might conceivably retaliate by ousting Nazi
correspondents from the United States. And, as everyone knows,
Nazi correspondents generally have other work to do besides gather¬
ing news. "
a
X X X X X X X X
9/13/40
TRA.DE notes
First under the wire for special authority to broadcast
election returns is Station WBAL, Baltimore. To do this Station
WBA1 asks to be allowed to operate simultaneously on the same
wavelength with Station KTHS at Hot Springs, Ark., from 9 P.M.,
ESI Tuesday, November 5, to 6 A.M., November 6.
Station KXOK, St. Louis, Missouri, will join the National
Broadcasting Company January 1, 1941, replacing Station KWK, in
St. Louis. At the same time NBC will a.dd its 200th affiliate when
Station KFRU, Columbia, Mo. , joins the Blue Network. -
The application of R. B. Eaton of Des Moines for a new
television station has been designated for a hearing by the
Federal Communications Commission.
In a canvass of 1,058 newspapers made by Editor &
Publisher, 19.10 percent are for Roosevelt, 59.47 percent for
Willkie and 21.43 percent neutral. Translated into circulation,
5,332,905 are for Roosevelt, 16,387,145 for Willkie and 6.198,821
neutral.
D. B. Van Houten, Manager of the Office Services Divi¬
sion of the General Service Department of the National Broadcasting
Company has been named Acting Personnel Manager.
William Gerald Martin, formerly Executive Assistant
Manager, has been appointed Manager of the Guest Relations Divi¬
sion, succeeding Charles Thurman, resigned.
George W. Klingman has jointed the WOR Engineering Depart¬
ment. In addition to his duties handling FM operation at WOR's
New York Frequency Modulation station, he will also serve in the
newly formed Research Division of WOR Engineering Department.
R.C.A. Communications, Inc., at Rocky Point, N. Y. , has
been granted authority by the Federal Communic? tions Commission to
operate an experimental station on the frequency 6950 kilocycles
with 40 kilowatt maximum power, to communicate with amateur sta¬
tion W1YA at Orono, Maine , for the purpose of exchanging informa¬
tion incidental to receiving tests being carried out by the
University of Maine on oho to radio synchronizing of related emis¬
sions.
V
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xxxxxxxxx
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..X
NEW FM APPLICATIONS INCREASE STEADILY
Filing of applications continues steadily for the many
new FM stations that hope to begin operation around January 1, 1941,
under the new commercial status which has been granted to this
noise-free, natural-sounding method of broadcasting by the Federal
Communications Commission, beginning on that date.
A total of 36 such applications now await action by the
FCC, and the first licenses of the new variety are expected to be
issued from Washington shortly.
The majority of the applications continue to be for high¬
er powered stations in the 50, 000- watt class, planned to cover
large areas of population. Among more recent ones filed are the
following:
St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo. - 44.3 megacycles
The A. S. Abell Co., Baltimore Md. (Baltimore Sun) - 44.3 meg.
National Broadcasting Co., Chicago, Ill - 43.3 megacycles
WDRC, Hertford, Conn. - 43.1 megacycles
WJR, Detroit, 'j&h. - 43.7 megacycles
Worcester Telegram Publishing Co., Worcester, Mass. - 43.1 meg.
General Electric Co. - Schenectady, N.Y. - 43.9 megacycles
Other representative applications sent in to Washington
during recent weeks include:
WHFC, Cicero, Ill - 47.5 megacycles
Echo Park Evangelistic Association, Los Angeles, Calif. -
45.5 megacycles
American Broadcasting Co., Lexington, Ky. - 44.1 megacycles
Don Lee Broadcasting System, Los Angeles, Calif - 43.5 meg.
Pulitzer Publishing Co., St. Louis, Mo. - 43.5 megacycles
Standard Broadcasting Co., Los Angeles, Calif. - 45.1 meg.
Capitol Broadcasting Co., Inc., Schenectady, N.Y. - 43.5 meg.
Walker & Downing Radio Corp. , Pittsburgh, Pa. - 43.5 meg.
At least 100 more groups are known to be planning FM
activity and, according to FM Broadcasters, Inc., at present are
engaged in completing the necessary application forms which must
be submitted to the government before a construction permit is
approved and issued.
XXXXXXXXXX
FCC ATTORNEYS APPROVED
Applications for the following attorneys to practice
before the Federal Communications Commission were approved by the
Commission: Charles J. Bloch, Macon, Ga. ; Kenneth W. Gemmill,
New York City; Fred M. Glass, Washin ton. D. C. , and V W. Thomas,
Pittsburgh, Pa,
XXXXXXXXX
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
f ajrnnrM T„
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INDEX TO ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 17, 1940
Small Percent Of Continuities Found Questionable . 2
FCC Chairman Would Favor Neither Party . 3
Calls F. D. R. "Smooth Radio Voice" A "Gold Brick" . 4
Dunlap Leaves Times For RCA . 5
No "Czar" For Defense Communications Committee . 6
New Capital Station Soon . 7
Gliders Get Portable-Mobile Station . 7
New U.P, Radio Bureau Head . 8
Flays Newspapers And Commentators... . . 8
German Radio Sets Increase Despite War..... . 8
Navy Communications Policy . . . 9
Sales Of Radio Sets Climb Well Above 1939 Records . 9
AP Signs News Exchange Pact With NBC, CBS . 10
Trade Notes . ,11
NAB Waxes Sarcastic In "ASCAP Victory?" . . . . . 12
Told Radio News Helps Newspapers . . . 12
Radio Crime Plays Hit By International Police . 12
No.
1266
September 17, 1940.
SMALL PERCENT OF CONTINUITIES FOUND QUESTIONABLE
From the total of 635,843 commercial continuities ex¬
amined by the Federal Trade Commission during the past fiscal year
in script rendered by individual broadcasts, 14,274 were marked
and set aside for investigation, or only 2.2 percent.
A breakdown of the 2 aforementioned figures further dis¬
closes that of the total individual station continuities examined,
96,140 were broadcast by 89 stations located in 14 cities or
population centers of over 500,000 population. From such radio
station commercial continuities, 2.97^ were deemed sufficiently
questionable in the initial scrutiny to warrant further investiga¬
tion.
The analysis discloses data concerning the principal
sources as to population centers of origin of those commercial con¬
tinuities broadcast by individual radio stations (non-network
broadcasts) which were marked and set aside as warranting further
investigation.
The completed tabulation in table "A" below shows particu¬
lars representing each of 6 ranges of population groupings whose
commercial continuities were included in the advertising surveys
during the fiscal year.
TABLE "A”
- COMMERCIAL
CONTINUITIES
(NON-NETWORK)
ANALYZED AS
> TO ORIGIN BY
POPULATION GROUPINGS
Total
No. of
Total Cities
Station Location
Continu-
Stations
Represent-
as to
itie s
Renre-
ed
Population Range
Examined
Sente d
Over 500,000
96,140
89
14
250,000-499,999
89,639
72
26
100,000-249,999
96,602
84
42
50,000-99,999
102,679
103
76
25,000-49, 999
91,235
108
100
Under 25,000
159,548
241
235
Total
635,843
697
493
The percentages and other statistics presented above
relate only to the initiation of inquiry and are not necessarily
representative of any final adverse action taken by the Commission.
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Surveys of radio advertising were carried on during the
fiscal year reported upon, on a selective and representative
basis somewhat similar to the method followed in scrutinizing pub¬
lished advertisements.
In comparing this station data with other radio review
information, or other methods of advertising dissemination, con¬
sideration should be given to these facts: Local and individual
broadcasting stations are often linked a large part of their broad¬
cast time into nation-wide or regional networks broadcasting the
same advertising material. For the purpose of avoiding unneces¬
sary duplication of review efforts in our advertising examinations,
local individual stations do not render commercial continuities
for such network programs, but only commercial continuities for
such programs as may originate in their respective station studios.
Thus, the network advertising broadcasts, and the markings of those
questioned continuities selected from network announcements have
been regularly reported upon as such in Commission releases. How¬
ever, there is no data available which would permit an apportion¬
ment to the individual affiliated stations of those questioned
commercial announcements which may have utilized the facilities
of many individual stations during the course of their network
dissemination.
Of the total 14,274 questioned commercial radio continui¬
ties marked from individual station broadcasts, during the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1940, it is observed that 20.0$ originated
from broadcasts by individual stations located in cities of over
500,000 population.
XXXXXXXXXX
FCC CHAIRMAN WOULD FAVOR NEITHER PARTY
It was made clear by Chairman James L. Fly of the Federal
Communications Commission that all political parties should have
the same treatment over the radio. He said one of the worst forms
of public service would be for broadcasters to favor one party over
another - Democratic over Republican, or vice versa. Such a situa¬
tion he believed would be very unfortunate. The Chairman remarked
that this discussion got him back to his favorite thesis of radio
as an instrument of democracy. Broadcasters should give balanced
discussions and other service factual, reporting, but without
editorial policy.
This came up in connection with a conference the FCC
Chairman had had recently with the heads of the Communist Party as
to the Communist broadcasting rights in the presidential campaign.
Mr. Fly explained to them that the Commission was quite unable to
tell any station under any circumstances to take any particular
speech, although improper refusal might subsequently come up later
as a question of public service.
3
9/17/40
Mr. Fly said, that he had also discussed the Communist
matter with the broadcasters. The latter have had some differences
and there has been some delay in arriving at a decision but it is
expected they will soon be in a position to inform the FCC where
they stand. Chairman Fly said the Commission doesn't want to take
any arbitrary position. The Communists contended they were told
to take the matter up with the broadcasters after the convention
but now time is passing and the broadcasters have failed to act.
Questioned if the law didn't require every party to be
given equal time on the radio, the Chairman pointed out that the
statute says this is mandatory only if a legally qualified candi¬
date is accorded time in the first place under which condition
other legally qualified candidates for the same office can demand
equal time. Asked if Republicans and Democrats paid for time,
would the broadcasters be expected to give the Communists equal
time for nothing, the Chairman replied that "unlike" facilities
was not a point at issue.
CALLS F.D.R.
xxxxxxxxx
"SMOOTH RADIO VOICE" A "GOLD BRICK"
Wendell Willkie, charged with being more or less of a
"bust" on the radio, took quite a shot in his Coffeyville speech
at the radio charm supposed to be possessed by the President. Mr.
Willkie, discussing the Battle of Britain said that with the burn¬
ing of London not only is the city in flames but a philosophy is
in flames and a way of life is in peril, and referring to Mr.
Roosevelt added:
"And I wonder what stands between us and that calamity
except a smooth radio voice offering us the gold brick of safety
without sacrifice."
Mr. Willkie calling attention to the great power now
possessed by the President declared that the latter could crack
down on the radio stations if he desired to do so:
"Mr. Roosevelt now has power, among other things, to
close all of our banks whenever he wishes; to change overnight
the value of the money you and I carry in our pockets; to issue
several billion dollars' worth of paper money on his own say-so;
to close the stock exchanges. If he declared another emergency he
could close all the broadcasting stations. He has declared 40
emergencies in the last seven years. "
xxxxxxxxxx
4
9/17/40
DUNLAP LEAVES TIMES FOR RCA
After eighteen years as Radio Editor of the New York
Times, starting in the infancy of radio and making the radio
section of that paper what it is today, Orrin E. Dunlap, Jr. last
week resigned from the Times to go with the Radio Corporation of
America as head of the RCA Press Department. It is understood
he had the offer under consideration since last June. He succeeds
Horton H. Heath, who has been appointed RCA Director of Advertising
and Publicity.
Mr. Dunlap is a "career man" in radio and the author of
seven books, including the biography, "Marconi: The Man And His
Wireless", and "The Outlook For Television". Associated with
wireless since 1912, when he built an amateur station, he served
as chief operator of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company
aboard the S. S. OCTORORA in 1917.
During the World War he served as operator in the U. S.
Navy, graduating from the U. S. Naval Radio School at Harvard as
one of the three honor men in the class.
Mr. Dunlap was graduated from Colgate University in 1920
after which he attended the Harvard Graduate School of Business,
specializing in advertising and marketing. After a year with the
Hanff-Metzger Advertising Agency, he joined the staff of the New
York Times as Radio Editor.
Also for several years he was corresponding editor in
charge of radio for the Scientific American and Boy *3 Life. As a
pioneer in amateur wireless, Mr. Dunlap was an early member of the
American Radio Relay League, and has been a member of the Veteran
Wireless Operators' Association and the Institute of Radio Engi¬
neers.
Mr. Dunlap has been a close student of television. After
carefully looking over the field last year, the National Associa¬
tion of Broadcasters selected him to discuss that highly contro¬
versial subject at their annual meeting. Will H. Hays was chosen
to speak for the movies. Next to David Sarnoff, Mr. Dunlap, in
writing the Marconi book, probably kept more closely in touch with
the inventor of radio than anyone in the United States. Mr.
Dunlap's life of Marconi was the only biography the great scientist
himself ever approved.
It has been said of Mr. Dunlap that he likewise could
have made a great success as a financial writer. Another hobby
which might have been developed is his natural ability as a cartoon¬
ist. Letters illustrated by his caricatures have long been a joy
to his friends. He also has a very valuable collection of auto¬
graphed photographs indicative of his contact with prominent men.
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A la Wendell Willkie putting Rushville, Indiana, on the
map, Mr. Dunlap has been a perpetual booster for his old home town
of Niagara Falls, N. Y. He never misses going there for his
vacation, where his father, Mr. Orrin E. Dunlap, Sr., veteran
newspaper correspondent, still resides. Niagara was also the home
of his wife who was formerly Miss Louise M. Leggett.
Some years ago this writer was in Chicago attending a
radio convention with Mr. Dunlap. Henrici's Restaurant was sug¬
gested for dinner. As Dunlap, who had not been any too compli¬
mentary about some of the things he had seen in Chicago, entered
Henrici's, he exclaimed: "This is a great place! tt "How do you
know?" he was asked. "You haven't eaten here yet. " "How could I
help but like it?" Mr. Dunlap exclaimed, as he laughingly pointed
to a huge oil painting of Niagara Falls, covering the whole side
of the wall behind the cashier's desk.
At that same convention in Chicago there was consider¬
able indignation among radio editors and radio manufacturers
because Mr. Dunlap had an exclusive story in the New York Times
describing in detail the forthcoming year' s development in radio
sets when the whole thing was to have been a secret and not sprung
until the day the show opened. The radio manufacturers declared
they had guarded their exhibition closely and were sure no news¬
paper correspondent had seen the new sets. They couldn't under¬
stand how the thing had gotten out. Nevertheless Mr. Dunlap had
it all in the Times the morning the show opened.
When pressed by this writer as to how he got the story,
he laughed as he said: "There was nothing to it. All the public
wanted to know was what was the latest thing in radio sets. In
the convention number of the radio manufacturing trade papers,
every manufacturer advertised the latest improvements he would
display at the Chicago exhibition. All I had to do was to read
these advertisements and there was my story. "
xxxxxxxxxx
NO "CZAR" FOR DEFENSE COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Chairman James L. Fly of the Federal Communications Com¬
mission reiterated yesterday that the proposed Defense Communica¬
tions Committee would be a planning agency and not an administra¬
tive agency. Asked if a single administrator was contemplated, the
Chairman replied that no single "czar" representing either the
Government or industry would have charge of this job.
"In fact such a step would be contrary to our demo¬
cratic processes", Mr. Fly concluded. "The Defense Committee will
represent both Government and industry and will not be headed by
any one 'big gun'. Why should it?"
XXXXXXXXXX
6 -
9/17/40
NEW CAPITAL STATION SOON
The approximate date set for the opening of the new
Washington, D. C. Station WINX is October 15th. There are now
four stations in the Capital - WRC and WMAL of the National Broad¬
casting Company, WJSV, of Columbia Broadcasting System, and WOL
of Mutual Broadcasting System. The new little brother will begin
with 250 watts on 1310 kilocycles.
Lawrence J. Heller, President of the new station, has
announced the appointment of Reggie Martin as G-eneral Manager.
Calling itself the Washington radio station for Washingtonians,
the new venture is already in its own building at Eighth and I
Streets, N. W. , in the heart of the business section of the city,
and in possession of a synchronized booster on the American
University campus.
Commenting on his new position this week, Mr. Martin
said: "WINX will endeavor to render a service devoted exclusively
to the interest of Washingtonians. It is our desire to cover in
one way or another everything of importance which happens in the
Capital’s metropolitan area. We shall also attempt to offer a
different type of program than is available on other local sta¬
tions. We intend to give ample time to all civic matters and to
encourage first class local talent. H
Mr. Martin is a native of South Bend, Ind. , where he
started in radio. He attended the University of Chicago and has
been associated with various Midwestern stations, including the
Register and Tribune stations in Des Moines and with the Central
States System in Nebraska. For the past two years as General
Manager of Station WJNO, Palm Beach, Fla. , he is familiar to sports
fans throughout the country over the nation-wide networks.
The new station's service range is expected to be within
a radius of 20 or 25 miles.
XXX XXXXX XXX
GLIDERS GET PORTABLE-MOBILE STATION
Construction permits have been granted to the Airhoppers
Gliding and Soaring Club for two new portable-mobile flying school
stations. The first is to be used at any point where glider opera¬
tions may be held and the second to be operated on various gliders
while soaring over landing fields to communicate with portable-
mobile flying school land station.
Both stations will operate on a frequency of 39060 kc. ,
one with 15 watts power and the other with 2 watts nower.
XXXXXXXXX
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9/17/40
NEW U.P. RADIO BUREAU HEAD
Hartzell Spence will reorganize and develop the United
Press* s Department of promotional activities. He will also con¬
tinue as Manager of U.P. fs Special Service Bureau and Manager of
Radio Shows, Inc., a U.P. subsidiary.
The Special Service Bureau and Radio Shows are by-pro¬
duct departments of U.P. for publishing and radio, respectively,
handling special news, research service for Newsweek, Look and
other publications and servicing such radio commentators as Lowell
Thomas, H. V. Kaltenborn, Raymond Gram Swing and others. Mr.
Spence has headed the Special Service Bureau for nearly two years
and Radio Shows since last year.
xxxxxxxxxx
FLAYS NEWSPAPERS AND COMMENTATORS
Not mentioning Wendell Willkie, Representative Hamilton
Fish (R. ), of New York, blames newspapers and radio commentators
for the defeat of his amendment which would have postponed the
draft until after election.
Mr. Fish contended that his amendment would have in¬
creased the size of the Army far sooner than the bill as it now
stands, by permitting enlistment as a preliminary to the opera¬
tion of the draft.
'•The eastern internationalist press", Mr. Fish said,
"deliberately and maliciously headlined my amendment as an attempt
to delay the draft by 60 days, and this slimy and contemptible
perversion of the truth was repeated over the radio by warmongering
commentators such as H. V. Kaltenborn. "
xxxxxxxx
GERMAN RADIO SETS INCREASE DESPITE WAR
The number of licensed radio receiving sets in Greater
Germany (inclusive of the new Eastern Provinces but exclusive of
the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and of the occupied areas)
amounted to 14,431,142 on June 1, 1940, the American Embassy in
Berlin reports. This is an increase of 103,224 over the preceding
month. This number includes 1,022,061 sets which are exempted
from paying the license fee for social reasons.
xxxxxxxxxx
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9/17/40
NAVY COMMUNICATIONS POLICY
The new communications policy is outlined as follows
in the recent U. S. Naval Policy:
"To provide and maintain a naval communication system
based on war requirements.
"To operate the communication facilities as required,
primarily, by the current operating force plan and for direct
communication with overseas possessions.
"To continue the use of naval communication facilities
to increase safety at sea and in the air, including adequate com¬
munication with the United States Merchant Marine and commercial
aircraft flying overseas.
"To cooperate with American commercial communication
activities so as to enhance their military value in the time of
national emergency and to safeguard the communication interests of
the United States. "
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
SALES OF RADIO SETS CLIMB WELL ABOVE 1939 RECORDS
So far in 1940 the radio industry has bettered by a sub¬
stantial margin the sales records chalked up in 1939, reports Dun &
Bradstreet, Inc.
"Manufacturers' unit sales have run better than 25 percent
above last year, when total volume exceeded 10,000,000 receivers.
A favorable sales stimulant is the public's intense interest in
European war news and in the presidential campaign. Buying of the
smaller, inexpensive models has continued strong, and these count
heavily in unit volume.
"With turnover at a highly satisfactory rate, the indus¬
try's efforts now are directed toward translating volume into net
earnings. Profit margins have been slimmed in recent years by the
increased emphasis given low-priced sets and by outbreaks of price-
cutting, particularly in retail channels. In 1939, the average
retail price of receivers was only $34, compared with well over
$100 10 years earlier. Since the latter part of 1939, the value
of the average unit sale has shown a slight upward tendency, so
that currently it is estimated closer to $40. It is not improved
sufficiently, however, to raise dollar sales volume to the peak of
proportions of 1937.
"Efforts to increase dollar totals have resulted in more
emphasis on the relatively expensive ra.dio-phonograph models.
9
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although still of small volume importance, are also counted upon
to add to the average unit sale. Meanwhile, the volume market is
being constantly widened by improved mechanical and styling
features. Latest innovations include low-priced record players
with automatic changers and candid-camera type portables.
"Although no comprehensive inventory figures are avail¬
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industry. Manufacturing activity in 1939, as revealed by employ¬
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stantial increase during the latter part of the year. In the first
half of 1940, emoloyment was above the same period of 1939 but still
below 1936 and 1937. »
XXXXXXXXXXXX
AP SIGNS NEWS EXCHANGE PACT WITH NBC, CBS
The Associated Press announced last week it had signed
with the National Broadcasting Company and Columbia Broadcasting
System one-year "exchange agreements" providing for the exchange
of all news obtained by the networks, plus a cash differential,
for AP dispatches. The arrangement went into effect officially
on Tuesday, although it had operated on an informal basis for
several weeks with NBC.
The size of the money payments by the networks to AP
will vary, as news will be broadcast on both a sustaining and com¬
mercial basis. No news will be used on sponsored programs without
the AP’s approval, under the terras of the agreement.
It was said by Editor & Publisher that the AP also is
negotiating with officials of the Mutual Broadcasting System for
a similar agreement.
The move announced this week by W. J. McCambridge, Assist¬
ant General Manager who signed for the AP, placed AP in competition
with the United Press, International News Service, and Transradio.
The agreement with the networks will come up for ratification by
the AP’s Board of Directors at a meeting on October 1st.
First accounts to use AP news are Musterole, Barbasol
and Pa-Pi-A, all handled by Erwin, Wasey & Co. , Inc. , and Nash.
NBC facilities will be used by Musterole, Pa-Pi-A and Nash, while
Barbasol and Pa-Pi-A will use CBS.
All contracts call for five-minute news periods, and will
start shortly except Nash, which starts Sept. 30. NBC is now
attempting to clear time on 60 stations for this account, marking
the first time the network has sold five-minute news periods on a
coast- to-eoast ba.sis.
In the meantime, AP member papers will continue the sale
of news to local stations. Mr. Me Cambridge disclosed Sept. 10
that 180 contracts had been obtained on this basis since AP news
was made available late last Spring. Under this arrangement,
member papers pay to AP 5$ of their assessment rate when news is
sold for use on sustaining programs, and 25$ when the programs are
sponsored.
0. S. Gramling, Executive Assistant in charge of AP
membership, said the NBC and CBS agreements open up to AP regularly
all news gathered by the networks' foreign staffs. Transcrips of
the radio correspondents' broadcasts will be orovided.
xxxxxxxx
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TRADE NOTES
President Roosevelt has proposed a radio round table
further to publicize the defense program. Stephen T. Early, White
House secretary, said yesterday. The same information proposed
to be made available to radio commentators would be offered to
newspaper men in Washington, he said.
KOME, Tulsa, Oklahoma, becomes affiliated with the
National Broadcasting Company Blue network September 29*-
V” WOP' s position on the radio dial will not be affected by
the general reallocation of broadcasting channels which will take
place next March 2Sth, when the North American Regional Broadcast¬
ing Agreement goes into effect. The frequency assignment of WOR
remains the same, 710 kilocycles - 71 on the dial.
The General Electric Company has been granted a license
to cover construction permit which authorizes a new relay televi¬
sion broadcast station at New Scotland, N. Y. The frequencies
allocated are 156,000-162,000 kilocycles, 10 watts. It is to be
used in connection with the General Electric television Station
I2XD at Schenectady.
It was said by radio officials that $20,000 would fall
far short of full compensation for the three networks in giving
up thirty minutes of their best commercial periods to put the
President on the air.
David C. (Dave) Garroway, KDKA special events announcer,
will leave Sept. 15 to join the National Broadcasting Company's
announcing staff in Chicago.
The DuMont station in New York, W2XWV will temporarily
operate a 50 watt television transmitter on 6000D-86000 to conduct
field tests.
P. J. Hennessey, Jr. , counsel for the National Broadcast¬
ing Company, and J. A. Chambers, radio engineer, both of Washington,
were among the lucky thirteen passengers landing safely in an
American Airline plane with only one motor ooerating, the other
having caught fire in midair. Their remarkable experience took
place at an emergency landing field near Louisville, Ky. , last
Friday night. Mr. Hennessey has long been connected with NBC and
now has his own law business in the Capital. Mr. Chambers is of
the radio engineering firm of McNary & Chambers and formerly was
Chief Engineer of the Crosley Radio Corporation.
XXXXXXXXX
11 -
9/17/40
NAB WAXES SARCASTIC IN "ASCAP VICTORY?'*
The following paragraph appears in the current issue of
the National Association of Broadcasters' report:
"Warner Brothers motion picture interests control the
Remick, Witmark and Harms music publishing houses, which are
understood to receive considerably more than $500,000 a year from
ASCAP.
"Warner Brothers motion picture Interests control Station
KFWB of Los Angeles, which has, presumably, paid ASCAP something in
the neighborhood of $30,000 a year.
"KFWB has signed the new ASCAP contract.
"A full page advertisement in Variety announces the con¬
summation of this undoubtedly difficult negotiation. "
xxxxxxxxxx
TOLD RADIO NEWS HELPS NEWSPAPERS
Circulation Managers from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary¬
land, Delaware, West Virginia and the District of Columbia meeting
in Atlantic City vie re addressed by Matt Sullivan, Circulation
Director for Frank Gannett' s chain of newspapers, who said:
"The effect of radio news broadcasting on the reading of
news is decidedly favorable to the newspaper. Though newsoapers
no longer can give first notice of major news events, the reader,
still seeks newspapers for reliability, accuracy and completeness.
People continue to look to newspapers for details of how it happen¬
ed, what everybody concerned, has to say, and what it all means. "
xxxxxxxx
RADIO CRIME PLAYS HIT BY INTERNATIONAL POLICE
Police chiefs from many lands attending the annual meet¬
ing in Milwaukee of the International Association went on record as
saying that the presentation of crime dramas on the radio was
detrimental to the morals and proper training of children. They
adopted a resolution to supply no factual information on crimes to
the radio.
Don F. Stiver, of Indianapolis, Superintendent of the
Indiana State Police, who headed a committee studying the effects
of crime drama, said that much of the information furnished to
radio programs was so distorted by script writers that the police
oould not recognize the story.
X XXXXXXXX
- 12 -
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
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““ SEP 2 3 1941*1^
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INDEX TO ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 80, 1940
Foreign Language Broadcasts, FCC Headache . 2
Big Reallocation To Aid Police Radio . 3
Record Philippine Registrations . 3
WOR To Spend $100,000 On New Television Station . 4
War Forces Irish To Buy Direct . 4
No Objections Yet Registered To N. A. R. B. A. Allocations . 5
Costs A. T. & T. $15,000 To Tie In New Mutual Station . 5
Dill Gets Gubernatorial Nomination . 5
FCC Will Decide Difficult Citizenship Cases Individually . 6
Cincinnati College Puts On Radio Script Course . 6
Goldwyn Tells Of Radio's Advantages . 7
Progress In Simplification Of Application Form Reported . 7
New 3BC 6-Hour U. S, Program . . 8
Wisconsin University Station Experiments With Time Signals . 9
Worried "Ham" . 9
Airliner Fire Was Optical Illusion . 9
Trade Nbtes . 10
New Sound-Level Meter Has Wide Range . 11
Plans To Publicize National Defense Programs Outlined . 11
FOREIGN LANGUAGE BROADCASTS, FCC HEADACHE
The question of foreign language broadcasts by stations
in the United States is one which is giving the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission considerable concern. When asked if it was true
that the Department of Justice had found that foreign governments
were contributing to foreign language station broadcasts in this
country, it was said that this had not been brought to the atten¬
tion of the FCC. Chairman James L. Fly declared that it was an
untenable thought that any foreign power should or could promote
the operation of any U. S. radio station. He didn’t feel sympathet¬
ic to anyone taking such a facility and devoting it to any special
cause. Radio, in his opinion, was not an instrument for a particu¬
lar cause.
Asked if there was any way to make foreign language sta¬
tions use English only, the Chairman replied that the process would
be very simple - the FCC could just issue an order to that effect.
In fact, he said that the Commission had thought of it. It was,
however, not an easy task. Those taking the action would have to
consider all sides of the case. There would be a lot of arguments
in favor of continued service. The foreign language stations
could be utilized from an Americanization point of view. He pointed
out that many of these stations were doing a real job of Americani¬
zation as a part of their work and that they seemed to be glad to
do it. The Chairman cited the case of WJBK, of Detroit, issuing
an Americanization pamphlet in Polish.
It was revealed that the Commission was checking foreign
language broadcasts, translating script and making recordings.
Also that many broadcasters had shown themselves willing to cooper¬
ate. There was a check on the part of the FCC by monitoring, or
listening, to any foreign language stations under surveillance. It
was also brought out that the FCC is using translators and inter¬
preters but did not have as many as would be necessary to do a
more complete job.
When it was reported to the FCC that there had been con¬
siderable complaint against German newscasts from certain New York
foreign language stations, the reply was that the FCC did not know
about these particular cases but it was admitted that the Commission
gets quite a few complaints about such broadcasts in general.
Asked if there was a chance of foreign language broadcasts
being cut off the air, Chairman Fly was non-committal. It was
added that that may not be the best method in which to handle the
problem.
xxxxxxxxx
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9/20/40
BIO REALLOCATION TO AID POLICE RADIO
Pursuant to agreements made at the first Inter- American
Radio Conference, held at Havana in 1937, the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission is shifting certain police and amateur frequencies,
effective November 1, 1940.
Following negotiations between the Commission, the
amateurs and representatives of the International Association of
Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Associated Police Communication
Officers, Inc. (APCO) , it was arranged for the amateurs to relin¬
quish the frequencies between 1715 and 1750 kilocycles and to
accept the frequencies between 2000 and 2050 kilocycles in ex¬
change. Likewise, the police relinquish the zone police frequencies
2036, 2040 and 2044 kilocycles. In return, the police service
receives the frequencies 7480, 7805, and 7935 kilocycles and three
channels in the band 1715-1750 kilocycles.
At the present time, police radiotelegraph stations are
not assigned any frequencies which are useful for long-distance
daytime communication. The assignment of this 7 megacycle group
of frequencies will provide the country with three necessary long¬
distance daytime radiotelegraph channels. In addition, the uday
only" restriction is being removed from the 5 megacycle channel
frequencies (5135, 5140, and 5195 kilocycles) which will permit
three long-distance night communication channels.
It appears that in a few particular instances the pro¬
hibition of radio- telephone relays has resulted in an undue hard¬
ship. The rules are therefore being changed to permit the establish¬
ment of certain voice communication circuits involving relays- upon
proper showing of the need therefor and upon express authorization
by the Commission.
Other minor changes involve the requirement that a 60-day
notice be given the Commission prior to the termination of all
inter-municipal agreements, together with modification of certain
radio station log and frequency tolerance requirements.
Today the United States has more than 1000 police radio
systems operating approximately 6300 mobile units.
xxxxxxxxx
RECORD PHILIPPINE REGISTRATIONS
The Office of the American Trade Commissioner, Manila,
reports that net radio registrations during July reached a new
alltime high, indicating this one line of business was not affected
by the prevailing depression. The total for July, the last month
reported, was 1,963, with a cumulative total for the first seven
months of 1940 showing a gain of 60 percent.
xxxxxxxx
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9/20/40
WOR TO SPEND $100,000 ON NEW TELEVISION STATION
The Federal Communications Commission has affirmed its
June 18th tentative grant of a construction permit to Bamberger
Broadcasting Service, Inc. , for a new television station in New
York City to use Channel No. 6 (96,000-102,000 kilocycles) with
1 kilowatt aural and visual power, A3 and A5 emission.
Confirmation was made upon showing that, in fostering
television development, the applicant will test vertical and
horizontal antenna systems, experiment with FM (frequency modula¬
tion) sound carrier, and make comparisons of pictures using from
441 to 729 lines and 15 to 30 frames.
A minimum of $100,000 has been made available for this
proposed program of experimentation. The exact site of the sta¬
tion has not yet been determined.
XXXXXXXXX
WAR FORCES IRISH TO BUY DIRECT
An increasing number of Irish importers are buying direct
from the United States rather than through British agents as for¬
merly, the American consulate at Dublin advises. War conditions
have made it difficult to import American merchandise into Ireland
by way of England. Among the difficulties are such factors as lack
of interest in American goods on the pert of British agents, high
freight rates between Great Britain and Ireland, inability of
British agents to obtain import licenses for American products, and
the prevailing uncertainty of merchandise arriving in England being
permitted to leave the country.
Since March of this year, there has been an average of
nearly one neutral vessel a week arriving in Irish ports from the
United States which indicates that there are actually more vessels
carrying freight from the United States than was the case before
the war. Freight rates and insurance are high because of the war,
but it costs considerably less to ship an article direct from the
United States to Ireland than by way of British ports.
Because of war conditions, United States remains the only
country from which Ireland can count on obtaining imports. Trade
developed now would, it is believed, be retained to a large extent
after hostilities in Europe ceased, especially as Ireland is des¬
irous of improving its American trade relations.
xxxxxxxx
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9/20/40
NO OBJECTIONS YET REGISTERED TO N.A.R.B.A. ALLOCATIONS
No objections have been registered to the sweeping Norths
American Regional Broadcasting allocations as yet by U. S. broad¬
casters, the Federal Communications Commission reports. Alloca¬
tions will affect 777 of the 862 radio stations now operating in
the standard broadcast band (550-1600 kilocycles) in this country.
It is to go into effect March 29, 1941.
Chairman Fly credits the gentlemen who worked out the
N.A.R.B.A. plan with doing a "really constructive job". Someone
suggested that the change might give certain stations a poorer
frequency than they had before. The Chairman replied that he had
heard that this might be the case but that he didn't think there
would be specific difficulty on that score.
One of those present at the interview cited a shift in
the frequency of Station WOL in Washington as a particular
example, saying that he couldn't receive it as well as he used to.
Several others present immediately pointed out that the N.A.R.B.A.
shifts haven't gone into effect yet and that WOL was shifted before
Chairman Fly came into office. Nevertheless, Mr. Fly mentioned that
he favored anything to improve WOL service. He said that he thought
the sky wave was bad on WOL and that sometimes he heard three or
four stations at that place on the dial at once.
Someone also suggested bettering the reception of
Station WJSV, in Washington, saying that he heard them at both
ends of the dial. "They laid that egg themselves", commented the
Chairman, "and besides you seem to need a new radio. "
xxxxxxxx
COSTS A. T. & T. $16,000 TO TIE IN NEW MUTUAL STATION
The American Telephone & Telegraph Company has added
lines from Salt Lake City to Provo, Utah, for the purpose of pro¬
gram transmission facilities to connect Station KOVO at Provo
with the Mutual Broadcasting chain. It is estimated the cost of
the proposed construction will be $16,400.
XXXXXXXX
/
DILL GETS GUBERNATORIAL NOMINATION
Once a politician, always a politician.' Although former
Senator C. C. Dill, co-author of the 1933 Communications Act, swore
that he was through with politics, he was nominated for Governor
of Washington on the Democratic ticket. His opponent is Mayor
Clarence D. Martin, of Seattle.
xxxxxxxxxx
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9/20/40
FCC WILL DECIDE DIFFICULT CITIZENSHIP CASES INDIVIDUALLY
As a result of inquiries made by the American Communica¬
tions Association, the members of which seemed a little apprehensive
of the ”harsh cases” arising in requiring citizenship proof of
common carrier employees engaged in international communication,
Chairman James L. Fly of the Federal Communications Commission
conferred with the group in New York last week. The entire prob¬
lem was talked over.
Brought up by the ACA representatives was a case where
a bona fide citizen who had an alien wife. Chairman Fly said that
he thought that every concerned employee should be definitely
required to fill out the forms and supply data and that particular
cases could be taken up later. The filling out of forms might
properly be a question of continuity of employment writh such per¬
sons. In individual cases subsequent reasonable and rational
consideration could be given. It was said to be easy to conjure
up difficulties at the receiving end of the questionnaires* but
it was believed that these would disappear when those having the
matter in charge could get around the table and talk them out.
xxxxxxxxxx
CINCINNATI COLLEGE PUTS ON RADIO SCRIPT COURSE
A new course in advanced script writing for radio is to
be inaugurated this Fall in the evening college of the University
of Cincinnati.
A continuation of the elementary course presented last
year for the first time, the new class will be open only to those
who have had previous training in radio writing. The elementary
course in radio script writing, offered concurrently, is open to
anyone with creative writing experience.
The elementary class in script writing at the University
last year attracted adults ranging in age from 17 to 55 and in¬
cluded among others teachers, newspaper writers, fashion commenta¬
tors and an agriculturist. Class- written dramatizations describing
the work of various agencies of the Community Chest were aired over
several Cincinnati stations, including WLW.
The instructor in both the elementary and advanced
classes in scripting will be Arthur Radkey, Assistant Educational
Director of Station WLW. Since his advent into radio five years
ago, Mr. Radkey has written more than 2,000 programs, ranging from
dramas to music criticism.
XXXXXXXXX
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9/20/40
GOLDWYN TELLS OF RADIO'S ADVANTAGES
In an article "Hollywood Is Sick" decrying the double
bill feature in the Saturday Evening Post recently, Samuel Goldwyn
threw this bouquet at what he apparently believes to be one of his
worst competitors:
"Radio has three tremendous advantages over the movies.
First, it is free - ignoring the original cost of the instrument
and the trifling upkeep - second, it is convenient; you don't have
to go downtown or even around the corner for it; it's right there
next to your favorite chair, waiting for you; third, it is select¬
ive; if you don't like a program, you can switch it off for a new
one. If you don't like a movie, on the other hand, nine times out
of ten you sit there and take it anyhow, doggedly determined to
get your money's worth, and building up a subconscious resentment
against all movies. It's just as if you had sealed and stamped a
letter and then reconsidered what you had written; it takes a
strong-minded person to waste that good stamp.
"Add to these advantages the fact that radio is branching
into television, and thereby coming even c loser to the province of
the movies, and you'll begin to appreciate our alarm over the com¬
petition. People will always go to the theater, because human be¬
ings are gregarious, but it's getting to a point where we will have
to redouble our emphasis on the one thing that we can give audiences
far better than radio can. That is realism. When I made 'The
Hurricane', the hurricane scene alone took a solid year to prepare
and cost $350,000, even though it lasted only seven minutes on the
screen. But people who saw it will remember it long after any
hurricane on the radio.
"So what with apathetic audiences, competition from the
radio, and profits cut by rising costs and by loss of the foreign
markets, the movie industry is in a desperate fix. It's got to
recapture Its domestic public.' And it knows that the surest way
to do it is by abolishing the double bill. "
XXXXXXXXX
PROGRESS IN SIMPLIFICATION OF APPLICATION FORM REPORTED
Joint conferees representing the National Association of
Broadcasters, the Independent Broadcasters, the FM group and
representatives of the Federal Communications Commission report
progress and probable agreement on possible changes in the
application forms. It isn't thought that there will be any dif¬
ficulty in working out something mutually satisfactory. It was
said at the Commission that any provision in the application forms
which is burdensome or embarrassing could be eliminated. The group
will probably meet again shortly.
XXXXXXXX
- 7 -
\
9/20/40
NEW BBC 6-HOUR U.S. PROGRAM
For nearly six hours every night the British short-wave
station will beam non-stop programs on listeners in Canada and
the U. S. when, on September 29, Transmissions 5 and 6 of the
British Broadcasting Corporation's World Service are merged, to
become the North American Transmission.
Features already familiar to North-American listeners
will continue, but at different hours, and a number of new items -
designed, like the rest of the Transmission, to meet Canadian and
American tastes - will be introduced.
The new six-hour British program will begin at 5:42 P.M.,
EST, and run continuously until 11:35 P.M. , EST. Hereafter there
will be four transmission periods of the BBC World Service as
follows :
Pacific Transmission
Central Transmission, Part I
( Eastern)
Central Transmission, Part II
(Africa)
North American Transmission
1:10 A. M. -5:15 A.M. ,EST
5:40 A. M. -11: 45 A.M. , EST
11:55 A. M. - 5:25 P.M. , EST
5:42 P.M. -11:35 P.M. , EST
Extensive changes in the timing of news bulletins and other
fixed-point broadcasts are involved.
The Central Transmission (Africa) and the North American
Transmission will come into force on Sunday, September 29, and the
Pacific and Central (Eastern) Transmission on Sunday, October 6.
Mr. F. W. Ogilvie, Director- General of the BBC, will dis
cuss the new developments in a talk in each of the four trans¬
missions. He will deal with the North American Transmission in
the "Britain Speaks" periods at 8:30 P.M. , EST and 11:15 P.M. , EST
on September 30.
XXXXXXXXXX
There are some 270 pending applications for additional
facilities in the present standard broadcast band, of which number
56 are for construction permits for new stations.
XXXXXXXXXX
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9/20/40
WISCONSIN UNIVERSITY STATION EXPERIMENTS WITH TIME SIGNALS
The two portable stations of the University of Wisconsin
are operating experimentally on 3492 and 4797 kilocycles, with
600 watts power, for the purpose of transmitting time signals to
be used in connection with the geological investigation of the
surface of the earth and the physical characteristics of the
strata below the surface of the earth.
XXXXXXXXX
WORRIED 11 HAM "
A New Jersey amateur inquires if it is permissible to
(1) listen in to short wave transmission from foreign stations,
and (2) if he can still exchange post cards with "ham" operators
in Europe.
The Federal Communications Commission advises that though
amateurs in the United States are now prohibited from exchanging
radio communications with such radio stations abroad, there is no
regulation against listening to foreign broadcasts, or communicat¬
ing with persons overseas by mail, telephone, telegraph or cable.
xxxxxxxx
AIRLINER FIRE WAS OPTICAL ILLUSION
A supposed "fire" which forced down an American Airlines
plane near Louisville, Ky. last Friday afternoon was reported by
Federal investigators to have been an optical illusion created by
the "fire" of reflected sunset and the "smoke" of a strip of gray
tape vibrating in the propeller slipstream.
Passengers on the plane were P. J. Hennessey, Jr.,
counsel for the National Broadcasting Company, and J. A. Chambers,
radio engineer, also of Washington.
The "fire" had such a realistic appearance it was report¬
ed to the pilot by an official of the airline who thought he had
seen a wisp of supposed smoke and flame issuing from the wing behind
the left motor. The motor was stopped and the pilot operated a
fire extinguisher before proceeding to an emergency landing field,
to which ambulances and fire-fighting equipment had been summoned.
xxxxxxxx
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9/20/40
TRADE NOTES
Station WRNL, Richmond Radio Corporation, Richmond, Va. ,
has been granted license to cover construction permit to increase
power from 500 watts to 1 kilowatt day and night, unlimited time,
on 880 kilocycles.
The Federal Communications Commission has also granted
WCAE, Pittsburgh, with a power increase of from 1 to 5 KW, unlimited
time and WXYZ's power has been boosted from 1 to 5 KW.
Called by one of his friends "a child of destiny", Powel
Crosley, Jr. , radio magnate, scored another triumph when the
Cincinnati baseball team, of which he is the owner, won its
second straight National League championship.
In his column "The New Yorker", Leonard Lyons on September
18th reported that Charles Michelson, Publicity Director for the
Democratic National Committee, has requested the breadcasting
chains for free time in response to Willkie's campaign speech last
Monday night. Michelson* s protest is based upon the fact that
Roosevelt’s Labor Day broadcast had been considered a political
speech, and that it really wasn’t.
_ ^
Mr. Lyons further said that "Wendell Willkie will broad¬
cast for the transcribed radio show, ’Famous Fathers.* He will be
interviewed by Howard Lindsay, star and co-author of 'Life With
Father.'" Political or non-political?
A portable mobile transmitter W2XWC of the Detroit police
is conducting tests to determine the relative merits of frequency
modulation as applied to the Municipal Police Service.
To transmit pick-up visual programs in Chicago to the
main station for broadcasting, Balaban and Katz Corporation will
use a new television relay broadcast portable transmitter using
the frequencies of 204,000-216,000 kilocycles and 250 watts
visual power.
The South Porto Rico Sugar Co. , Ensenada, Porto Rico, has
been granted special temporary authority by the Federal Communica¬
tions for point-to-point radiotelegraph station in the fixed public
service at Ensenada, ? . R. to communicate with radio station FFI
at Fort de France, Martinique, a station operated by the Government
of Martinique.
XXXXXXXXXX
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9/20/40
NEW SOUND- LEVEL METER HAS WIDE RANGE
A new portable sound-level meter, lighter and more compact
than any previous instrument of this kind, has been built by
Walter Mikelson and others of the General Electric general engi¬
neering laboratory. It weighs only 19 pounds but has a range of
24 to 120 decibels or roughly from the rustle of leaves to the
scream of a factory whistle.
The new meter may be used quickly and conveniently for
almost any kind of noise study, including airplane engine, cabin
and propeller noises; traffic noise; sound in theaters, audi¬
toriums and radio studios; and noises of motors., fans, generators,
turbines, pumps, bearings, gears, cylinders and other parts of
machinery.
xxxxxxxxxx
PLANS TO PUBLICIZE NATIONAL DEFENSE PROGRAMS OUTLINED
Following the announcement from the White House that
President Roosevelt had designated WO R- Mutual news analyst Wythe
Williams to arrange a special radio series publicizing national
defense, Mr. Williams this week briefly outlined the plans for the
program.
"The proposed series would be an official radio program
consisting of interpretations by well-known commentators on the
national defense reports of different government departments",
Mr. Williams said.
The veteran reporter explained that the program would
be a half hour in length and probably would be broadcast Sunday
nights. The programs will be rotated on the three national net¬
works with each chain devoting a half hour every third week.
Mr. Williams stated that the commentators roundtable was
designed to give the American people authoritative explanations
of the progress of national defense by ne casters trained in
analyzing the content of government measures and experienced in
radio presentation.
A complete production plan for these programs will be in
the President's hands by next week, Mr. Williams declared.
"I have ben conferring with government officials concern¬
ing the program for about a month", the WCR commentator added. "I
saw President Roosevelt at Hyde Park two weeks ago and again in
Washington last week-end. " //
i
XXXXXXXXXX
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
.V *#'
WASHINGTON, D. C.
A#"
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
INDEX TO ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 24, 1940
Radio Accused As Frankenstein Of Printed Publications . .....2
NAB Advises On Political Broadcasts . 5
McCormick To Make WON One Of Greatest Stations . 6
False Statements Charged In Wilkes-Barre Closing Down
Thirteen Television Stations Now Being Built .
Grinding Them Out . 9
RMA Members To Meet In N. Y . . . 9
Three Utah Stations Form Network . 10
President’s Philadelphia Speech Seen Political . 10
Trade Notes . 11
Now ASCAP Hurls The Monopoly Charge At NBC . 12
No. 1268
00 CO
September 24, 1940
RADIO ACCUSED AS FRANKENSTEIN OF PRINTED PUBLICATIONS
Charging that radio stations obtain government monopoly
licenses - for which they pay nothing to the government - and
have realized profits of millions through transfer of these
licenses, John B. Haggerty, President, International Allied Print¬
ing Trades’ Association, bitterly attacked the broadcasting
industry. Speaking at the Golden Anniversary Convention of the
International Printing Pressmen in Tennessee, Mr. Haggerty further
declared that the profits of one radio company, the Columbia
Broadcasting System, in four depression years alone were $17,000,000
on a cash investment of less than $1,600,000. The inroads of radio
advertising were depriving thousands of workers of their jobs, he
further declared.
The speaker said that the Allied Printing Trades Associa¬
tion had created a Committee on Radio, consisting of George L.
Berry, President, International Printing Pressmen, Edward J. Volz,
President, Photo-Engravers International Union, and himself to act
on this important question.
"With men and management realizing what they are confront¬
ed with through the widespread activities of the radio in the
advertising field, the question prompts itself, quite naturally,
what will they do with the possibility of television, which will
take salesmen off the road by sending their pictures into the homes,
presenting fashion shows, vacuum cleaning and other demonstrations,
cooking lessons, etc., Mr. Haggerty, in closing, said. "So far,
the radio with its medicine shows has given only the dialogue, but
television will give you both the dialogue and motion pictures of
actors and scenery in colors. This is certainly something to worry
the printing trades industry more than the radio, because the air
will always be cheaper than newsprint.
"I would recommend that every delegate to this convention,
upon his return to his local Union, call the attention of his Union
to this matter. I would further recommend that each Union e.ppoint
a Radio Committee, and, your committee, as well as the members of
your local Union, should call the attention of your candidates for
Congress to the fact that this unbridled and unfair competition on
the part of radio broadcast stations, licensed by the Government,
and, for which license they pay the government nothing, is depriv¬
ing thousands of printing trades workers of their opoortunitie s for
jobs. "
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Immediately after this address, President Haggerty sent
a letter to publishers of magazines, newspapers, and farm publi¬
cations which read, in part, as follows:
"The continuance of a free press, in America, is dependent
upon our newspapers, magazines and farm papers securing sufficient
independent income through the printing of national advertising to
meet expenses, pay necessary taxes and show some profit on the
capital invested.
"Radio advertising, which, in 1929, received but 3 cents on
the advertising dollar, in 1939 received directly some 19 cents of
the advertising dollar. For 1939 newspapers received 16 per cent
less, magazines received 17 per cent less and farm papers received
50 per cent less of the advertising dollar than they received in
1929.
"If we charge to radio advertising, as is proper, the millions
spent for radio time plus the additional millions spent for authors,
artists, music, telephone costs, etc., which expenditures were nec¬
essary to make radio advertising possible, we would most likely
ascertain that radio advertising, in 1939, secured more than 30
cents of the total advertising dollars spent in newspapers, maga¬
zines, farm papers, out-door advertising and radio.
"Printing Trades workers are keenly interested in this matter
for three reasons: first, to insure the retention of a free press;
secondly, because of the already substantial loss and the threaten¬
ed increased loss of job opportunities, and, third, because of the
effect which the loss of advertising revenues will ultimately mean
in retarding their efforts to secure better wages and working condi¬
tions. .
"We will greatly appreciate your perusing the attached remarks
and your assuring us, if you believe as we do, of your cooperation
in seeking some constructive way in which to modify, at least, the
unfair competition which is herein referred to. "
Here are some of the highlights of Mr. Haggerty's speech
to the pressmen:
"In its first stage, radio appeared to the press as a novelty
with the result that the press gave it millions of dollars worth
of space gratis as it always has for professional baseball. The
press was gullible enough to give radio far more free space than
radio could have ever hoped to purchase. Radio programs were
featured much the same as a band concert and the press played up
these radio artists in the theatres while the theatre managers
played up these radio artists in the papers. This, of course, was
fine for the owners of radio stations out selling time to national
advertisers.
"It was not realized by the press that through such publicizing
on the air it was building up for itself most severe competition.
Little did the press appreciate that the radio would spell finish
to all Sports Extras, and, as a result of all this, the daily news¬
papers soon heard radio’s slogan: 'You get your news first by
radio'. This is true, and the radio listener, and almost everyone
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9/24/40
has a radio, now gets the news on the air as soon as the editor.
The press must now realize that it has helped to create its own
Frankenstein. "
"During the last decade a new and already highly dangerous
competitor has entered the field of advertising and has each year
deprived additional thousands of our workers of their job opportun¬
ity s.
"I refer to radio broadcasting, which, for the year 1939, has
diverted from printed publications advertising income direct to
the radio stations alone of some $170,000,000. This sum of
$170,000,000 represents only the amount paid directly to the radio
stations. In order to arrive at the true amount of advertising
diverted from printed publications in 1939 alone, it would be
necessary to add to this $170,000,000 the estimated additional
$200,000,000 spent in 1939 for artists, actors, bands, and tele¬
phone costs which made the spending of this $170,000,000 with the
radio stations advisable.
"Contrast this $370,000,000 spent in 1939 for radio advertis¬
ing with the total advertising income of $525,000,000 spent with all
the newspapers, daily and Sunday; the $150,000,000 spent in 1939 in
all our magazines; and the $17,000,000 spent for advertising in all
our farm publications. "
"In 1929, when newspapers had an advertising income of some
$800,000,000; when magazines had an advertising income of
$240,000,000; when farm publications had an advertising income of
$35,000,000, radio broadcasting stations had an advertising income
of but $40,000,000. "
"If you add the $170,000,000, which the radio broadcast sta¬
tions received directly, and the estimated $200,000,000 which was
spent collaterally to make this radio advertising possible, you
find that this new competitor, in 1939, received some 70 percent
as much as the total amount received for advertising by all of the
newspapers, and, almost twice as much as the total amount spent
for advertising in all of the magazines. "
"The radio broadcasters receive a license from the government,
for which they pay nothing to the government, and also they hold
a monopoly in the community in which they operate.
"In passing I might add that the recent report of the Monopoly
Investigating Committee of the Federal Communications Commission
concludes that even "our democracy is threatened" by this radio
monopoly. I quote from their report as follows:
"'To the extent that the ownership and control of radio
broadcast stations falls into fewer and fewer hands, whether they
be network organizations or other private interests, the free dis¬
semination of ideas and information, upon which our democracy
depends, is threatened. ' "
"The profits of the radio broadcasting stations, the diversion
of advertising from newspapers, magazines and farm papers has
already resulted in newspaper publishers spending millions of
dollars, taken from the profits of newspaper publishing in the
past, in the purchase of radio broadcasting stations.
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9/24/40
'•it is understood that many newspaper publishers contend that
the purchase of these competitors for advertising, radio stations,
was necessary to protect their local advertising field.
"During the past few years printed publications, especially
the newspapers, although the same could well apply to magazines,
have found another radio worm diverting their advertising.
"An advertising agency or persons experienced in advertising
solicitation secure a license to operate a radio station in one
community and then secure additional licenses for booster radio
stations in localities, say 25 or 30 miles away. In those local¬
ities, with an investment of a comparatively few thousands of
dollars, they erect a radio transmitter, connected by telephone
with the major radio station, and, immediately they divert many
additional thousands of advertising dollars from struggling news¬
papers and farm publications and thus destroy the opportunities
for jobs of printing trades workers employed in those publications."
"National advertising is handled, promoted and placed by
national advertising agencies. When we find a governmental agency,
after an exhaustive survey, reporting that 90 percent of all net¬
work commercial programs are builded by advertising agencies, we
find one of the reasons for this unusual condition.
"Newspapers and magazines pay to the advertising agencies a
commission of 15 percent. Likewise the radio broadcast stations
and networks pay to the advertising agencies a commission of 15
percent. If an advertising agency is authorized to pay out
*$1,000,000 for advertising in newspapers and magazines, they must
necessarily contact several different publications and their net
income is probably reduced to some 7 or 8 percent of this 15 percent
commission. When the same agency has $1,000,000 to spend on radio
advertising they contact but one or two radio networks and their
15 percent commission is practically net. Add to this net income
the amounts which the advertising agency receives in additional
commission from artists, bends, etc., and you can readily see that
the net cash income for the advertising agency is much greater,
when they place their advertising with radio broadcasting stations,
than when they place advertising with printed publications. "
xxxxxxxxxx
NAB ADVISES ON POLITICAL BROADCASTS
To keep its members from getting out on a limb, those
members having difficulty in determining the necessity of accepting
political broadcasts are urged by the National Association of
Broadcasters to communicate with the Association in Washington
giving full particulars.
Just who in the Capital, if anybody, the NAB officials
turn to in these matters deponents sayeth not.
XXXXXXXXXX
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MC CORMICK TO MAKE WGN ONE OF GREATEST STATIONS
9/24/40
A tremendous expansion in program building, designed to
make WGN outstanding among America's radio stations, was announced
by Col. Robert R. McCormick, editor and publisher of the Chicago
Tribune, and President of WGN. In its 1940-41 development, WGN
will cooperate closely with the growing Mutual network which now
numbers seven member stations and 150 affiliates.
MA year ago", said Colonel McCormick in outlining his
plans, "WGN had to decide whether it would submit to the tendency
of the times for monopoly in radio or develop the strength to
stand on its own feet.
"If WGN were to succeed as an independent station, it
would have to develop features it did not possess; would have to
enter fields with which it was not acquainted. The decision was
not easily taken, but it was never in doubt.
"We decided that at all cost WGN must be a Chicago sta¬
tion, not the Chicago outlet of a New York network. We determined
that a great radio station must be created in Chicago, the gateway
city between east and west, through which pass the nation's
artists. "
Colonel McCormick said that free radio must assume the
great attributes of the free press. It must be more than a system
of communication.
"It has not been easy for radio to reach the clarity and
verity in news and comment that the profession of journalism has
attained in many generations", said Colonel McCormick. "WGN has
achieved this by using such outstanding newspaper correspondents
as Sigrid Schultz, Raymond Gram Swing, Fulton Lewis, Arthur Sears
Henning and Captain Herne.
"Radio’s economic function is to lend commerce and
industry the indispensable services of advertising, essential to
progress under our American system. Radio's civic duty is to
stimulate patriotism, to inspire a devoted and discerning citizen¬
ship.
"During the past months the American radio audience has
been hearing a new slogan: 'Watch WGN and Mutual. '
"The Mutual network began as an association of four
independent stations as recently as October, 1934. It now includes
seven member stations and 150 affiliate stations, all working to¬
gether in their own communities and serving in the regional as
well as national interest.
"It may be that to accomplish our ideals we shall have to
make Chicago the radio center of America. In any event, by means of
its electrical facilities, its studio equipment, its central loca-
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9/24/40
tion for obtaining artists, and above all, by its independence,
WGN will be the outstanding radio station of America. 11
Colonel McCormick spoke on the "In Chicago Tonight"
program just after presentation of the poetic cramatization "Ode
to Chicago" in which Charles Laughton, the great character actor,
was starred. The production brought to life the "I Will" spirit
of innovation and progress of the city in which WG-N serves as the
Voice of the People.
Musical attractions scheduled for the season reflect
the energetic campaign in progress at WGN. The programs listed in
the announcement are as follows:
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, directed by Dr. Frederick
Stock, will be heard every Thursday evening from Oct. 10 through
April 17. World famous guest soloists will be on the air.
The WGN Symphony Orchestra, directed by Henry Weber,
will be presented each Wednesday and Sunday evening.
Chicago Opera Company offerings will be broadcast every
Monday throughout the season, from November 4 through December 9.
The Chicago Theater of the Air on October 5 will inaugui-
ate a great series of streamlined operettas starring distinguished
singers. The operettas will be heard every Saturday night.
All these programs will be broadcast over the Mutual
Broadcasting System making Chicago the musical center of the na¬
tion on five evenings out of seven.
Colonel McCormick noted that among the special features
scheduled for the near future is the World Series, again to be
broadcast exclusively by WGN and the Mutual network. A banner
lineup of football games, soon to be announced, will be another
Autumn highlight
The fashion show, which will climax the $7,500 American
Fashions contest sponsored by The Tribune also will be broadcast,
on October 2. The 40 winning designs are to be dramatized in a
unique musical production directed by William A. Bacher, WGN chief
of programs.
In addition to these features the time tested variety
programs, musical quarter hours and hal£hours, weekday serials and
sportscasts will be retained and others of similar appeal added to
the schedule. Frequent and complete news broadcasts of happenings
at home and abroad will remain one of the premier public service
policies of WGN and Mutual.
XXXXXXXX
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FALSE STATEMENTS CHARGED IN WILKES-BARRE CLOSING DOWN
On the ground that the applicant is not financially or
otherwise qualified to continue station operation, and that mis¬
representations were made, the Federal Communications Commission
has moved to deny the application of John H. Stenger, Jr., for
renewal of license of radio station WBAX, operating on 1210 kilo¬
cycles, at Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
After reviewing the case, the Commission concludes that
the grant will not serve public interest, convenience, or necessity
because :
1. The applicant is not financially qualified to continue
the operation of the station.
2. In view of the facts recited with respect to false repre¬
sentations made to the Commission by the applicant in applications
and other documents, it is apparent that his character is not such
as to qualify him to hold the license of a radiobroadcast station.
3. Station licenses heretofore granted to the applicant for
the operation of Station WBAX, the frequency authorized to be used
therein, and the rights therein granted have been transferred to
Glen D. Gillett, Marcy Eager, and Stenger Broadcasting Corporation
without obtaining the consent of the Commission thereto in writing,
in violation of the provisions of the Communications Act.
4. The radio transmitting apparatus described in licenses
heretofore issued to the applicant for the operation of Station
WBAX has been used and operated by Glen D. Gillett and Marcy
Eager, directly and through agents, and by Stenger Broadcasting
Corporation, through its officers and directors, particularly with
respect to the control of physical operation and programs broad¬
cast, in violation of the Communications Act.
5. The applicant has relinquished control of this station and
his right to exercise same; and has failed to discharge properly
the obligations made incumbent upon him in licenses which he has
received from the Commission.
xxxxxxxxxx
THIRTEEN TELEVISION STATIONS NOW BEING BUILT
There are now thirteen television stations being built
in the U. S. with many more in prospect. Those at present licensed
are :
Balaban & Katz Corporation, Chicago, Ill; The Crosley Corpora¬
tion, Cincinnati, Ohio; Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc. , area
of New York, New York; General Electric Company, Schenectady, N.Y.;
National Broadcasting Co. , Inc. , Portable (Camden, New Jersey and
New York, New York); National Broadcasting Co., Inc., are of New
York, New York; National Broadcasting Co. , Inc. , to be determined,
District of Columbia; National Broadcasting Co. , Inc. , to be deter¬
mined, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Philco Radio and Television
corp. , Philadelphia, Pa. ; RCA Manufacturing Company, Inc. , Camden,
N.J.; Television Productions, Inc., Los Angeles, California;
Zenith Radio Corporation, Chicago, Illinois; Bamberger Company,
Newark, N. J. (TOR).
- 8 -
xxxxxxxxxxx
■ -4. o E
9/24/40
GRINDING THEM OUT
The BMI Board of Directors, meeting in New York last
week, made one important decision and that was that the BMI produc¬
tion, which is already at a record high, should be increased.
M. E. Tompkins, Vice-President and General Manager, announces that
the increased scale of production goes into effect immediately.
Within two weeks Mr. Tompkins expects to have BMI on a schedule
of fourteen new popular numbers a week, a 100 percent increase in
this department, and thirty new BMI arrangements of standard
material, which is a 20 percent increase over the present rate
for this part of the catalogue. The production of the standard
numbers will be further increased so that by the middle of October,
thirty-five a week will be issued. Mr. Tompkins gives assurance
that these increases will be made without any sacrifice in the
high quality of its music "for which BMI has already become noted".
BMI has signed a contract under which it will obtain
exclusive performing rights to the principal catalogues of Latin
and Central American music. The transaction carries the rights,
commencing January 1, 1941, to all the Latin- American works in the
catalogues of Southern Music Publishing Company, Inc. , Southern
Music Internacional, Editorial PHAM, Mexican Association of Authors
and Composers, Inc. , and Editorial Argentina de Musica Internacional.
The BMI broadcasters receive in excess of four thousand works,
over three thousand of which are available on phonograph records.
xxxxxxxxx
RMA MEMBERS TO MEET IN N. Y.
The Fall meeting of members of the Radio Manufacturers'
Association will be held during two days next month, October 7 and
8, in New York City. The RMA membership will be tendered a lunch¬
eon on October 8 by James S. Knowlson, President, and the RMA
Board of Directors, which will hold its customary Fall meeting
after the membership luncheon.
Brief addresses at the RMA luncheon will be made by Mr.
Knowlson and Dr. W. R. G. Baker, of the General Electric Company,
Bridgeport, Conn. , Chairman of the National Television Systems
Committee .
Problems of National Defense and also industry promotion
will be considered. At the meeting on Monday, October 7, the RMA
will consider an Association parts warranty, for a period of years
to be recommended for maintenance of replacement parts for con¬
sumers. On Tuesday morning, October 8, there will be a meeting of
the entire Receiving Set Division, and also a meeting of the
Tube Division.
xxxxxxxxxx
- 9 -
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9/24/40
THREE UTAH STATIONS FORM NETWORK
Effective September 29, three Utah stations, KLO,
Ogden-Salt Lake City; KOVO, Provo, and KEUB , Price, will group
themselves into a full time regional network and simultaneously
as a network become affiliated with the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Extension of Mutual service into Utah through The Inter¬
mountain Network will give the Mutual Broadcasting System con¬
centrated coverage of the full intermountain market, including
Utah, southeastern Idaho, western Wyoming and eastern Nevada.
This intermountain market heretofore has been the only major
market in the West not served by Mutual, KLO, key station for the
newly formed Intermountain Network, is a 5000 watt full time out¬
let with studios in Ogden and Salt Lake City. KOVO, Provo, and
KEUB, Price, both are 250 watt full time locals. Studios and
business offices of the Intermountain Network are in the McIntyre
Building, Salt Lake City.
In addition to Mutual program service, stations of the
Intermountain Network will carry a substantial schedule of
regional sustaining and commercial features originating in Salt
Lake City, Ogden, Provo and Price.
Stations KOVO and KEUB will be programmed exclusively
by Mutual. KLO will carry both Mutual and NBC Blue programs.
Officers of The Intermountain Network, Inc. , are:
Paul R. Heitmeyer, President and Manager, Jack Richards and Arch
Madsen, Vice-Presidents; Clifton A. Tolboe, Treasurer, and A. L.
G-lasmann, Secretary.
Socs N. Vratis will be national advertising manager
and George F. Hollingbery Company will be the national sales
repre sentative.
xxxxxxxxxx
PRESIDENT’S PHILADELPHIA SPEECH SEEN POLITICAL
Criticizing President Roosevelt for the use of free radio
time, David Lawrence writes in the Washington Star:
’’Although the three major broadcasting companies decided
to give free time to President Roosevelt’s radio address at the
University of Pennsylvania, it was as transparently a political
address as if it had been made by Senator Guffey who, together
with other prominent New Deal Democrats, toured Philadelphia with
the President in a manifest piece of political campaigning.
"Mr. Roosevelt used his University of Pennsylvania speech
to answer recent attacks by Wendell Willkie, Republican nominee.
He had every right to do this, and nobody can object to a Presi¬
dent campaigning for himself. What is causing public criticism is
the apparent effort to make a political speech under supposedly
non-political auspices and to gain the use of free radio time and
thus save the Democratic campaign funds for other ourooses.fl
XXXXXXXX ^ ‘ -10-
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9/24/40
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9 9 0
TRADE NOTES : : :
0 9 9
9 9 0
The Federal Communications Commission has "hamstrung
television for its own good" Alva Johnson will say in an article,
"Trouble in Television", to appear in the Saturday Evening Post
of this week (September 28).
Figures covering 705 broadcasting stations (excluding
networks) show that average weekly pay check was $41.94. Network
employees received $63.03.
The full schedule of home football games of the Univer¬
sity of Pennsylvania beginning Oct. 5, will be televised this
Fall by the Philco Radio & Television Corporation, in cooperation
with the University, the Atlantic Refining Company and N. W.
Ayer & Son, Inc.
The Sky Club of Indianapolis is operating a new itiner¬
ant aircraft station on 3105 kilocycles.
Libby, McNeill & Libby, of Chicago, will have a new
coastal station frequency 3190 kc. to communicate with its fish'
ing ships in Alaskan waters.
Gerald D. Coleman, Chief Engineer at the WPIT transmitter
at Saxonburg, has resigned to become Chief Engineer of WKPA, a new
broadcasting station now under construction at New Kensington, Pa.
The Mackay Radio & Telegraph Company has been granted
permission to establish regulations applicable to "Birthday Greet¬
ing" messages between the U. S. , Guam, Honolulu, Midway and Manila.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
CORRECTION
In our issue of September 13, we said "A nice little
joy-ride is ahead of the Federal Communications Commission when
it holds its hearing at Memphis, Tenn. to look into the needs of
radio- telephone communications on the Mississippi River. "
This was incorrect. The Commission itself is not going
to Memphis and never intended to. Only an engineer and an
examiner, and possibly a lawyer, will go to conduct a hearing at
the request of and for the convenience of parties in that part of
the country who could not afford the expense of a trip to New
York. We regret the error.
xxxxxxxxxx
- 11 -
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NOW AS CAP HURLS THE MONOPOLY CHARGE AT NBC
The American Society of Composers characterized the
ruling of Niles Trammell, President of the National Broadcasting
Company, that each orchestra appearing on a sustaining program,
beginning October 1 must use at least three compositions not in
the Society's catalogue as "another move to establish monopolistic
control in the radio industry".
In his letter to the orchestras Mr. Trammell explained
that early in August all orchestra leaders had been asked to play
at least one composition which N3C clearly will be able to use
after Dec. 31, and that this requirement was being stepped up in
order to increase the use of music which will be available to NBC
after the ASCAP contract expires, Dec. 31.
"ASCAP has not relaxed its exorbitant demands upon us, "
Mr. Trammell stated in his letter. "December 31, 1940, is approach¬
ing rapidly and it is essential that we continue to increase the
use on NBC sustaining shows of the music which will be available
to us after that time. Therefore, commencing October 1st, NBC
will require that all orchestras broadcasting on NBC sustaining
shows, whether they are studio or remote control programs, must
schedule and play during each of their NBC broadcast periods, at
least three compositions which NBC clearly will be able to use
after December 31, 1940. "
In reply, an ASCAP representative declared:
"I wish the Trammell ruling called for six rather than
three non-ASCAP numbers on each sustaining program", the repre¬
sentative said. "In that way the public's reaction would be gained
that more rapidly. "
He also charged NBC with taking advantage of its pre¬
sent contract with the Society. By inserting three non-ASCAP
selections into each sustaining program in an effort to wean the
public away from the Society's music before the agreement expires,
NBC will be using the composer group's songs to "make the dose
palatable", he pointed out.
Inquiry at Broadcast Music, Inc. , formed by the radio
men to combat the fees of the Society for the right to use its
music on the air, disclosed that the Columbia and Mutual Systems
soon would follow NBC's lead with similar rulings.
xxxxxxxx
R. C.A. Communications, Inc., Rocky Point, N. Y. , and New
Brunswick, N. J. , have been granted special temporary authority to
point to point radiotelegraph stations in the Fixed Public Service
at Rocky Point and New Brunswick, using their regularly licensed
equipment, frequencies, power and emission, to communicate with
radio station EAX-2 at Barcelona, Spain, operated by Transradio
Espanola SA, for a period not to exceed one month.
XXXXXXXXX
- 12 -
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
,-i BROADCASTING COMPANY
GENERAL LiBRARY
iii ROCKEFELLER PLAZA, NEW YORK, i
INDEX TO ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 27, 1940
No Broadcaster Worry Seen In New Defense Board . 2
Defense Communications Board Created . 4
Canadian Sales . 5
Thad Brown Confirmation Still In Jeopardy . 6
U. S. International Stations Multiply . 6
Dutch Radios For U.S. Reshipment Reported . 7
National Television Progress Reported . 7
Microphone Transforms Slovenly Speech Of Senators . 8
Armstrong Receives FM Patent . 8
Dr. Jewett Heads Bell Research Board . 9
Trade Notes . 10
Develops FM "Translator0 For Old Sets . 11
Retail Sales Sourt To 10,000,000 Sets . 11
I
FM Radio Goal 100,000 For 1941 . 12
Columbia Again Enters Phonograph Industry . 12
No. 1269
NO BROADCASTER WORRY SEEN IN NEW DEFENSE BOARD
There seems to be a general opinion that the broadcasters
have nothing to fear in the new Federal Communications Defense
Board just created.
"The broadcasters have had the idea that the Government
would swoop down and take over all the broadcasting stations in
the country", one high official said. "Nothing could be farther
from the truth. They wouldn’t know what to do with these stations
if they had them.
"I believe the new Defense Communications Board will
simply follow the President’s order to recommend such precautions
and reallocations as shall seem desirable under military condi¬
tions. For instance, as you well know, attacking planes may be
guided by beams from a radio station. That being true, the fre¬
quency of a station may be changed here and there but that wouldn’t
necessarily mean the taking over of a station, but if it did,
which would be very doubtful, it would mean only that station. "
Chairman James L. Fly, of the Federal Communications
Commission, who is also Chairman of the new Defense Board, has
repeatedly assured broadcasters that no drastic steps were con¬
templated. Chairman Fly almost simultaneously with his appointment
as Defense Chairman, again vigorously set forth these views in a
National Defense broadcast sponsored by the Office of Government
reports. The broadcast took the form of an interview as follows:
INTERVIEWER: I understand, Chairman Fly, that the Communications
Act gives the President special powers with respect
to communications in the event of war or other
national emergency. Just what do those authoriza¬
tions embrace?
CHAIRMAN FLY: It is only natural, and logical, that the President
is given certain powers to coordinate and utilize
important systems of communication during national
emergency. Fbr one thing, Section 606 of the Com¬
munications Act enables the Chief Executive, if he
finds it necessary for the national defense and
security, to accord certain communications priority.
And, under like emergency, he may from time to time
suspend or amend existing rules and regulations per¬
taining to radio communication, and permit Government
use of particular facilities, if need be. Also,
stringent provisions may be invoked to prevent
sabotage of radio or wire communications in time of
national stress.
- 2 -
9/27/40
INTERVIEWER: Does this mean, Mr. Chairman, that the Federal Govern¬
ment will take over radio communication bodily in
event of war or presidential proclamation that an
emergency exists?
CHAIRMAN FLY: No, that is not my understanding. On the contrary,
it seems obvious that program service should continue
pretty much as at present. After all, that is the
American system of broadcasting, and distinguishes it
from the situation abroad, where broadcasting has
degenerated to a system of propaganda, and television
has been "blacked out", amateurs rubbed out, and
research and progress retarded for more years than
we may yet realize. Such chaotic conditions as
regards communications must not invade the United
States. For one thing, our Government does not want
to interfere with radio broadcasting any more than is
necessary for the national protection. Likewise, it
is expedient to preserve intact the present linking
up of radio stations throughout the land. This is a
large country, and the advantage of efficient and
instantaneous communication throughout the 48 States
and possessions is essentially important.
International communications are likewise important.
Of course, I do not mean to imply that, under actual
emergency, the Government might not temporarily en¬
list particular radio outlets for military purposes,
and in the extreme picture, temporarily shut down,
say, seaboard transmission which might serve as a
beacon to an enemy in event of air raids. Also, in
an actual emergency, the Government would undoubtedly
require certain periods in which to broadcast official
bulletins and other public announcements. But that
would not necessitate taking over broadcasting
facilities bodily. The broadcasters stand anxious
and willing to lend their facilities and give time
to the nation at stated periods or on other occasions
when such need arises.
INTERVIEWER: From what you say, Chairman Fly, I am led to assume
that in the defense picture you are receiving the
cooperation of the industry.
CHAIRMAN FLY: We most assuredly are, I am delighted to report.
Furthermore, this collaborative spirit is reflected
in all fields of communication. It not only per¬
meates the broadcasting industry, but extends through¬
out the commercial fields, and into the domain of the
amateurs. You must realize that the amateurs consti¬
tute a valuable source of supply of operators and
other experts for the military and other services in
time of war.
9/27/40
CHAIRMAN FLY:
( Cont* d)
Besides cooperating in every particular with the
Commission in normal times, the amateur has been of
particular aid in the national defense set-up by
policing his own frequencies. It may be interesting
for you to know that by voluntary action most amateurs
stopped communicating to warring countries long
before the Commission imposed its general prohibition
respecting foreign contacts. I cannot o ver-emphasize
the fact that action of the Commission in prescribing
certain general curbs is precautionary rather than
disciplinary. We are proud of the patriotic and
cooperative response of operator and industry both.
INTERVIEWER:
Mr. Chairman, has the FCC uncovered any startling use
of radio for espionage purposes?
CHAIRMAN FLY:
I have no report for you on that score. I might
explain though, that in times like these our investi¬
gations of alleged unauthorized use of radio have
increased tremendously over the thousand or so cases
we had last year. The American public is now natur¬
ally "Fifth Column" conscious. Every antenna on a
coastal fisherman’s shack or a mountain cabin is a
potential "spy" outfit in the eyes of some observing
citizens under the present situation. It is necessary
for the Commission to inquire carefully into every
case reported to its field offices, even though these
suspicious wires oftentimes lead to harmless receiv¬
ers. I will say that most cases of unlicensed
operation turn out to be acts of thoughtless or
mischievous youth.
XXXXXXXX
DEFENSE COMMUNICATIONS BOARD CREATED
President Roosevelt on Tuesday created by Executive
Order the Defense Communications Board the chief function of which
is to coordinate the relationship of all branches of communication
to the National Defense. This refers not only to radio broadcast¬
ing, but also embraces common carriers such as commercial radio¬
telephone and radiotelegraph as well as other telephone, telegraph
and cable facilities. The Board, according to the Order, will
have no power to censor radio or other communications, or to take
over any facilities.
The President designated James L. Fly, Chairman of the
Federal Communications Commission, as Chairman of the new Board.
Others appointed were Maj. Gen. J. 0. Mauborgne, Chief Signal
Officer of the Army ; Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes, Director of Naval
Communications; Breckenridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State in
Charge of International Communications; and Herbert E. Gaston,
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in Charge of the Coast Guard.
- 4 -
9/27/40
A section of the Executive Order set up specific bar¬
riers against exercise of censorship by the new agency. It said:
"The Board shall take no cognizance of matters pertain¬
ing to censorship. The Board shall study the physical aspects of
domestic standard broadcasting and shall recommend such pre¬
cautions, supplementary facilities and reallocations as it shall
deem desirable under foreseeable military conditions. It shall
also make plans for the speedy and efficacious use of all neces¬
sary facilities in time of military emergency. "
The Order specified the Board’s functions as follows:
"a. The needs of the armed forces of the United States, of
other governmental agencies, of industry, and of other
civilian activities for radio, wire, and cable communi¬
cation facilities of all kinds.
"b. The allocation of such portions of governmental and
non-governmental radio, wire, and cable facilities as
may be required to meet the needs of the armed forces,
due consideration being given to the needs of other
governmental agencies, of industry, and of other civilian
activities.
"c. The measures of control, the agencies to exercise this
control, and the principles under which such control
will be exercised over non-military communications to
meet defense requirements. "
"During any war in which the United States is a belliger¬
ent, or any national emergency, the existing Interdepartment Radio
Advisory Committee shall act as a Committee of the Board, but only
in an advisory capacity", the Order concludes. "While the Inter¬
department Radio Advisory Committee is so acting as an advisory
committee, all of its reports, recommendations, or communications
normally prepared for submission to the President shall instead be
submitted to the Board, for consideration from the standpoint of
National Defense and for disposition. "
xxxxxxxxxx
CANADIAN SALES
The Canadian RMA has reported sales last July of 24,029
receiving sets compared with 23,720 in July 1939. Of the July,
1940, sales 12,346 were electric sets, 7,157 battery sets, 2,193
portable sets, 134 phonograph combinations and 1,639 automobile
sets. The comparative July 1939 sales were 12,122 electric sets,
10,500 battery sets, 134 phonograph combinations and 964 automobile
sets. Canadian inventories reported at the end of July were
114,241 sets against 71,449 in July, 1939.
XXXXXXXXX
- 5 -
9/27/40
THAD BROWN CONFIRMATION STILL IN JEOPARDY
Evidently Senator Charles W. Tobey, (R. ), of New Hamp¬
shire, is marking time as he continues to block the confirmation
of Col. Thad Brown, Republican, for reappointment to the Federal
Communications Commission in the hope of adjournment of Congress.
If Congress adjourns, the nomination, of course, will automati¬
cally die with the session. However, if there is only a recess,
then there is still a chance for confirmation.
Whether there will be an adjournment or recess is, at
this writing, a question of considerable doubt although it is
thought enough pressure has been brought to bear to predict a
recess. A majority of Senate and House leaders want to adjourn
but the Republicans and many Democrats are against this, express¬
ing the belief that the President should not be given too free a
hand in the present emergency. One plan is to recess until after
election, say, November 15th.
In the meantime, no further call has been issued for a
meeting of the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee to further con¬
sider the confirmation of Colonel Brown. A majority of the Com¬
mittee would have confirmed him some time ago but Senator Tobey,
planning to have additional evidence, threatened to blow the roof
off the Senate if they tried to Jam the thing through. Then, too,
it has been thought that Colonel Brown' s name would be withdrawn
but at this date, such has not been the case.
xxxxxxxx
U. S. INTERNATIONAL STATIONS MULTIPLY
With National Defense requirements as a stimulant, there
is considerable activity among the U. S. short-wave stations. This
is indicated in the latest listings of International Broadcast
Stations, showing the construction permits in many cases to increase
the power. Those listed are as follows:
Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.: WCBX, near Wayne,
N. J. , 10 KW, C.P., 50 KW; WCRC, Brentwood, N. Y. , 50 KW (C.P.
only); General Electric Company: WGEA, South Schenectady, N.Y. ,
25 KW, C.P. 50 KW; WGEO, South Schenectady, N.Y. , 100 KW;
KGEI, San Francisco, California, 20 KW, C.P. 50 KW; National
Broadcasting Co. , Inc. , Bound Brook, New Jersey: WRCA, 35 KW,
C.P. 50 KW, WNBI , 35 KW,- C.P. 50 KW.
The above list does not include the new short-wave sta¬
tion being built by Westinghouse at Boston to take the place of
that company's pioneer short-wave station at Pittsburgh.
XXXXXXXXXX
6
9/27/40
DUTCH RADIOS FOR U.S. RE SHIPMENT REPORTED
With Germany out of the market for the present, the
Netherlands remains the only competitor of the United States in
the Dominican Republic, Vice Consul William Belton, of Ciudad,
Trujilly, reports. It is understood that large stocks of Dutch
radios are being held at Curacao for reshipment to the American
market, and it is possible that before this supply is exhausted,
arrangements will have been made to meet the demand from Dutch
owned factories in countries of Holland.
Considering the population, demands for radio sets in
the Dominican Republic is limited. Customarily, trade slacks off
during the months previous to the release of new models. It is
estimated that approximately 5,000 sets are in use in the Dominican
Republic. The greatest stimulus which radio sales have received
has been the improvement of broadcasting in Cuba, which transmits
programs of considerable popularity locally.
XXXXXXXXXX
NATIONAL TELEVISION PROGRESS REPORTED
The National Television Systems Committee is now working
on the many technical and commercial problems involved. Progress
is reported already on some of the standardization work, and under
the chairmanship of Dr. W. R. G. Baker of the General Electric
Company, an almost continuous session of meetings, experiments,
studies and exchange of technical data has been arranged.
Over forty organizations are enrolled in the organization
work of NTSC and its nine panels or subcommittees. Further meet¬
ings of the nine television panels will be held in New York from
October 1 to 4.
Of the forty organizations participating under the
National Television Systems Committee in the enterprise of develop¬
ing a national television service, the following research and
engineering organizations are represented: Columbia University,
Dartmouth Medical School, Eastmankudal Company, Institute of Radio
Engineers, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of
Pennsylvania and University of Virginia.
XXXXXXXXX
A new flying school radio station will be installed by
the Lewis Holy Name School of Aeronautics, at Lockport, Illinois.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 7 -
MICROPHONE TRANSFORMS SLOVENLY SPEECH OF SENATORS
Senator Henry F. Ashurst, recently defeated for reelec¬
tion from Arizona, one of the Senate’s greatest orators, paid his
respects to the microphone as follows:
HThe microphone - forever pushed in front of the modern
Cicero by newsreel, radio, and public-address men - may even nour¬
ish the old art of moving speech”, Senator Ashurst is quoted as
saying. "The microphone has transformed many men of sloppy, snippy,
slovenly speech into superb speakers. In the past 15 years it has
made scores of thousands of excellent speakers.
"The microphone has seemed to eliminate those great banes
of public speaking - overtone and overstatement.
"Superlatives in speech are usually evidences of a weary
man or sometimes of an indolent man who does not seek a more nearly
exact medium of expression.
"I’ve long cultivated flaming, brilliant, rotund, gorgeous
sentences", he explained. "But I would advise speakers of this era
to use short, lance-like sentences. "
This new hard-hitting manner is called forth, he explain¬
ed, by the demands of the microphone, the need for simply put speech.
xxxxxxxx
ARMSTRONG- RECEIVES FM PATENT
Dr. Edwin H. Armstrong, originator of present-day FM
(frequency modulation) broadcasting, has received a patent (No.
2,215,284) for an improved method of FM transmission and reception
which is claimed to give extremely high fidelity.
The new system, as described in the patent, permits trans¬
mission of the lowest to the highest pitched audible sounds, cover¬
ing the entire audible range from thirty to 16,000 cycles. Present-
day radios operating on amplitude-modulated radio waves cover but
half this range, the patent states.
In Dr. Armstrong’s new method of FM broadcasting and rec¬
eption the high-frequency sounds of the broadcasting band are
amplified many times more than the low-frequency sounds. Then the
frequency of the wave to be broadcast is varied by the amplified
currents. This produces a wide band of frequency variations. This
wave is broadcast and when picked up at the receiver is amplified.
The amplified currents are passed through a detecting device, where
the frequency variations are converted into a band of currents of
variable amplitudes. By this conversion distortions which would
produce noises are suppressed. When both low-pitched and high-
pitched sounds are reproduced, free from distorting noises, they
go into the microphone at the transmitter.
XXXXXXXXX -8-
9/27/40
DR. JEWETT HEADS BELL RESEARCH BOARD
Dr. F. B. Jewett, Vice President of American Telephone &
Telegraph Co. , in charge of research, this week resigned as Presi¬
dent of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. , as of October 1, and
will become Chairman of the research concern's Board of Directors.
Dr. 0. E. Buckley, Executive Vice President of the
Laboratories, controlled by American Telephone & Telegraph, will
succeed Dr. Jewett as President.
It hardly seems possible but the Bell Laboratories Record
in West Street, New York City, has been going now for fifteen years.
The first issue appeared in September, 1925.
The Fall of 1928 saw the announcement of the Laboratories'
program for aircraft radio development. Through subsequent years
descriptions have appeared of transmitters and receivers which have
become standard equipment on American airways.
At the present time more than two thousand yachts and
coastwise craft can be connected by radio with Bell System tele¬
phones. This system was described in the Record for November,
1932. It supplements the ship-to-shore system for passenger
steamers whose initial installation on the "Leviathan" was described
in January, 1930.
Several entirely new Bell System services have had their
inception within the lifetime of the Record. There is the tele¬
typewriter network, as furnished to police and aeronautical author¬
ities. There is the teletypewriter switching system, described in
January, 1932, and now serving 14,000 stations. There are the
radio broadcasting networks, carrying programs to hundreds of sta¬
tions. There are unattended central offices, bringing dial service
to places formerly served by magneto boards. There are secretarial,
time-of-day, and weather services.
The following articles appear in the 15th Anniversary
issue of the Record;
"The Nature of Organic Insulating Materials", C. S.
Fuller; "Six- Way Directional Microphone", W. R. Harry; "New Voice-
Frequency Electrical Delay Network", H. M. Thomson; "Unit Ventila¬
tor", 0. 0. Eliason; "Synchronized FM Transmitter", W. H. Doherty;
"Toll Crossbar Call-Distributing System", J. Meszar; "A Dialing
Circuit of Increased Range", F. K. Low; "An Important New Magnetic
Alloy"; "Magnetic Ultra-Micrometer", W. B. Ellwood.
xxxxxxxxx
9
9/24/40
TRADE NOTES : :
The Commission on September 24, 1940, estended to March
29, 1941, the effective date of Section 3.32(b) of the Rules Govern¬
ing Standard Broadcast Stations.
Appointment of Milton Seiner, who for 15 years has been
connected with the Music Department of Station WLW, Cincinnati,
as General Manager of Music and Associated Activities of that sta¬
tion, has been announced by James D. Shouse, Vice President of The
Crosley Corporation in Charge of Broadcasting.
American radio newsmen in London are sleeping in the
British Broadcasting Corporation’s studios frequently these days
to avoid being on the streets during air raids, reports John
Steele, WCR- Mutual London commentator and chief of the MBS foreign
staff. Mr. Steele adds that the danger of falling steel fired from
British anti-aircraft batteries adds to the perils of life in London.
Says Leonard Lyons in his "New Yorker" column: "This is
why Charles Michel son is conferring with the radio chains now: The
G. O.P. claimed that the President’s Chickamauga Dam speech, which
lasted 22 minutes, was political. The radio stations, therefore,
gave Willkie free time, for his Coffeyville speech - but that last¬
ed 57 minutes. Michelson now demands 35 minutes free time for the
New Deal." This was addressed to "Radio Daily".
KDKA’s pack transmitter is still being packed around.
WBZ-WBZA borrowed it in August for a broadcast from a blimp at
Boston, and nearly lost it when a storm hit the blimp just as it
was taking off. It came back to Pittsburgh for two more aerial
broadcasts, and has now been shipped to KYW in Philadelphia for
another special event.
Congress is completing action on the National Defense
revenue legislation and promptly after enactment, copies of the
new law relating to tax rates of corpora tions, including excess
profits, amortization and other provisions will be issued. In the
recent final hearings by the Senate Finance Committee, tax modifi¬
cation provisions recommended by the Radio Manufacturers’ Associa¬
tion were presented in cooperation with National Association of
Manufacturers and the U. S. Chamber of Commerce.
XXXXXXXX
10 -
9/27/40
DEVELOPS FM H T RAN SLAT OR’1 FOR OLD SETS
A new frequency modulation "translator " , by the use of
which the owner of a conventional or present-type amplitude modu¬
lation radio receiver can pick up the new FM broadcast programs,
has been developed by the Radio Department of General Electric.
Used in conjunction with the present-type receiver, it brings in
the high fidelity and relatively static- free FM programs, thus
protecting an owner’s investment in radio equipment he now has.
The translator sells at $49.95. Housed in a walnut
cabinet standing 9 inches high, 15^ inches wide, and about 8 inches
deep, is provided with a shielded cable for connection to a con¬
ventional radio. Terminals are located at the rear of the cabinet
for antenna and ground connections. A soecial dipole antenna is
recommended for best results, although in many locations an
ordinary antenna will operate satisfactorily. The translator has
its own dial scale, with a tuning range of 42 to 50 megacycles, and
six tuning keys convenient3.y located below the illuminated dial.
A plug-in connector on the back of the translator chassis
permits easy attachment of a television picture receiver. A wired-
type of record player may also be used in conjunction with the
translator. These two features are provided so that either of the
other two uses to which an ordinary modern radio is put - televi¬
sion sound or record playing - can be carried on just as always
despite the fact that the FM translator is connected permanently
into the parent set. A manual control to facilitate such operation
is supplied on the face of the small cabinet.
XXXXXXXX
RETAIL SALES SPURT TO 10,000,000 SETS
Retail sales of radio sets throughout the country are
running a good 20 percent ahead of a year ago, distributors in
New York reported, and volume for the year as a whole will mark up
a new record, probably well in excess of 10,000,000 sets. While
table models continue to lead, there is a larger demand for phono¬
graph combinations and the average unit sale is beginning to
increase steadily. The war and the presidential campaigns are the
chief reasons for the greater demand, plus the fact that the cheap¬
er table models, which have now been in vogue for several years,
are replaced more rapidly than the consoles.
Confirming this trend was a statement by Charles Robbins,
General Manager of the Emerson Radio & Phonograph Company, who said
radio sales will reach a new all-time high this Fb.ll and Winter.
XXXXXXXXXX
11 -
9/27/40
FM RADIO GOAL 100,000 FOR 1941
Radio set manufacturers have set a sales goal of at
least 100,000 frequency modulation receivers for 1941, and are
confident that volume will pass this mark, if stations get into
operation rapidly, according to the New York Times. So far there
are only five sets on the market but within another month or two,
fourteen manufacturers will have models available in those areas
covered by FM broadcasting.
"The chief difficulty faced in the promotion of FM sets
is that they are considerably higher than the average set sold
today and an educational campaign is needed to impress the public
with FM superiority over the standard amplitude modulation broad¬
casting", the Times goes on to say.
"FM sets range in price from about $150 up, whereas the
average unit sale this year of AM sets is between $30 and $35.
Total sales of standard sets this year will probably exceed
10,000,000. Last year the number was about 9,200,000, of which
approximately two-thirds comprised the cheaper table models.
Phonograph radio combinations reached a new high last year with
about 500,000 sold and this year the figure is expected to be
pushed up to 600,000 units. "
xxxxxxxx
COLUMBIA AGAIN ENTERS PHONOGRAPH INDUSTRY
The Columbia Recording Corporation has entered the phono¬
graph field and will market two models. At one time the name
Columbia was associated with a leading phonograph manufacturing
company and since that time has gone through the process of being
absorbed into a radio network, reappearing as an important producer
of records and finally back to its original field, phonographs.
Columbia will not make the machines, however, the produc¬
er being an "important radio manufacturer". Two models are offered
a portable at $35 and a table model at $69.50.
XXXXXXXX
12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
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INDEX TO ISSUE OF OCTOBER 1, 1940
Would Tax Radio Profits For National Defense . 2
Coughlin Silencing, Station’s Own Action . 4
Richmond Time s-Di spat ch Cancels Station Application . 4
Army Enlisting - Old Style And New . 5
Frank Russell And Miss Gale Wed . 5
ASCAP Charges Chain Muzzling In S. F . 6
To Celebrate Twenty Years Of Radio Progress . 7
Radio Suggested By Educators In Defense . 7
Radio Exports Of July . 8
Contends Radio Increases Newspaper Reading . 8
Trade Notes . 9
Apparent I.T. & T. Drop Caused By U. S. Dollar Decrease . 10
G. E. Steams Up For 50 KW FM Station . 10
Winchell Freed On Radio Charge . 10
Barred From Using Remington Name . 11
Attorneys’ Applications Approved . 11
NBC International Stations Boom . 12
No. 1270
October 1, 1940
WOULD TAX RADIO PROFITS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE
Suggested by the need of the Government to secure
additonal and necessary revenues and to oay the cost of National
Defense, Representative Lawrence J. Connery, ( D. ) , of Massachusetts
suggested a tax on radio breadcasting profits.
"It is my belief that our tax experts might well compare
the yearly profits which have accrued to this govemmentally
promoted radio monopoly", Representative Connery set forth in an
extension of remarks in the Congressional Record, "considering
the small amount of cash actually invested, with the meager profits
of its advertising competitor, our free press, our newspapers, and
magazines. "
Mr. Connery included in his remarks the recent speech of
John B. Haggerty, President of the International Allied Printing
Trades Associations, which characterized radio advertising as the
Frankenstein of the printed publications.
"It is well to bear in mind that licenses for radio
broadcasting stations are issued wholly within the discretion of
the Federal Communications Commission", the Congressman pointed out
"and are authorized by the Congress provided that the holders of
such licenses presumably serve public interest. These licenses,
or governmental franchises, are issued without the payment to the
Government of even the proverbial penny even in these days when
the need of Government revenue is greater than ever.
"Yet the Congressional Record is replete with citations,
in the official reports of the Federal Communications Commission,
wherein the holders of these licenses of governmental franchises
have sold this governmental property for sums ranging into the
millions of dollars.
"A free press is widely recognized as one of the real
bulwarks of a free democracy. The press ofAmerica is free because
it is beholden to no governmental power or no one or few groups
of individuals. . .
"For years we managed to get along without radio broad¬
casting, while I doubt if our Nation and our people would be as
well off today had we not had, since prior to the founding of our
country, a free and militant press. In passing, I might add it
is not my desire to in any way cripple or hinder the radio broad¬
casting industry. That industry, as does the theater, as well as
the press, furnishes information and pleasure to many millions of
our people. "
- 2 -
10/1/40
Expressing the doubt that any newspapers or magazines
could show profits averaging even 10 percent on the actual invest¬
ment during the past 10 years, Representative Connery continued,
in part, as follows:
"Recently, the Monopoly Investigating Committee of the
Federal Communications Commission reported, after an exhaustive
2-year study, that these two radio monopolists during the past 12
years of their existence had received in net earnings, after the
payment of taxes and all other necessary expenses, a total of some
$45,000,000 on total cash investments, at the most, of less than
$4, 000,000, a yearly average, for each of the past 12 years, of
almost 100 percent in net profits on their actual investments.
"For the information of those interested, I quote from
the Summary and Conclusions of the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion Committee Investigating Radio Monopoly the following excerpts:
"’’The net earnings of Columbia, during the 12-year period
of its existence, have been $22, 522, 471. Of this amount
$16,872,863 (more than 13 times all cash ever paid into the
corporation) has been paid to its shareholders in dividends;
the remainder is invested largely in current assets. The
net earnings for Columbia for 1938 were in the amount of
$3,541,741. «
"And, from another page, referring to the National Broad¬
casting Co. , I quote :
"’The total earnings (net) during the period of its
existence (12 years) have been $22,319,833. Since it began
paying dividends in 1934 (6 years ago), it has paid to its
parent company $18,100,000 (cash dividends of $14,900,000,
lease negotiations fees of $2,200,000, and research and
development fees of $1,000,000) .
"'The earnings (net) for National for 1938 were in the
amount of $3,434,301.’ .
"The total capitalization of National Broadcasting Co. ,
as shown by the report of the Federal Communications Commission,
was never greater than $3,300,000. This makes a total actual cash
investment in both companies of $3,784,307, on which net earnings
during the past 12 years have amounted to some $45,000,000. "
"Newspapers and magazines provide profitable employment,
I understand, for well over 100,000 highly skilled American workers,
the weekly wages of which will probably average close to $50 per
week or some $2,600 per year. On the other hand, it is my under¬
standing that the radio broadcasting industry, as represented by
some 705 radio stations officially reporting to the Federal Com¬
munications Commission, provides steady employment for some 11,000
workers, at an average weekly wage of less than $30 per week, other
than some 2,600 musicians and artists who receive an average of $46
per week, plus an additional 1,000 workers, on part time, who
average some $15 per week and some 2,350 musicians and artists, on
part time, who average some $18 per week.
xxxxxxxx
- 3 -
October 1, 1940
WOULD TAX RADIO PROFITS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE
Suggested by the need of the Government to secure
additonal and necessary revenues and to oay the cost of National
Defense, Representative Lawrence J. Connery, ( D. ) , of Massachusetts
suggested a tax on radio broadcasting profits.
"It is my belief that our tax experts might well compare
the yearly profits which have accrued to this govemmentally
promoted radio monopoly", Representative Connery set forth in an
extension of remarks in the Congressional Record, "considering
the small amount of cash actually invested, with the meager profits
of its advertising competitor, our free press, our newspapers, and
magazines. "
Mr. Connery included in his remarks the recent speech of
John B. Haggerty, President of the International Allied Printing
Trades Associations, which characterized radio advertising as the
Frankenstein of the printed publications.
"It is well to bear in mind that licenses for radio
broadcasting stations are issued wholly within the discretion of
the Federal Communications Commission", the Congressman pointed out
"and are authorized by the Congress provided that the holders of
such licenses presumably serve public interest. These licenses,
or governmental franchises, are issued without the payment to the
Government of even the proverbial penny even in these days when
the need of Government revenue is greater than ever.
"Yet the Congressional Record is replete with citations,
in the official reports of the Federal Communications Commission,
wherein the holders of these licenses of governmental franchises
have sold this governmental property for sums ranging into the
millions of dollars.
"A free press is widely recognized as one of the real
bulwarks of a free democracy. The press ofAmerica is free because
it is beholden to no governmental power or no one or few groups
of individuals .
"For years we managed to get along without radio broad¬
casting, while I doubt if our Nation and our people would be as
well off today had we not had, since prior to the founding of our
country, a free and militant press. In passing, I might add it
is not my desire to in any way cripple or hinder the radio broad¬
casting industry. That industry, as does the theater, as well as
the press, furnishes information and pleasure to many millions of
our people . "
- 2 -
10/1/40
Expressing the doubt that any newspapers or magazines
could show profits averaging even 10 percent on the actual invest¬
ment during the past 10 years, Representative Connery continued,
in part, as follows:
"Recently, the Monopoly Investigating Committee of the
Federal Communications Commission reported, after an exhaustive
2-year study, that these two radio monopolists during the past 12
years of their existence had received in net earnings, after the
payment of taxes and all other necessary expenses, a total of some
$45, 000,000 on total cash investments, at the most, of less than
$4,000,000, a yearly average, for each of the past 12 years, of
almost 100 percent in net profits on their actual investments.
"For the information of those interested, I quote from
the Summary and Conclusions of the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion Committee Investigating Radio Monopoly the following excerpts:
",!The net earnings of Columbia, during the 12-year period
of its existence, have been $22,522,471. Of this amount
$16,872,863 (more than 13 times all cash ever paid into the
corporation) has been paid to its shareholders in dividends;
the remainder is invested largely in current assets. The
net earnings for Columbia for 1938 were in the amount of
$3,541,741. '
"And, from another page, referring to the National Broad¬
casting Co. , I quote :
"’The total earnings (net) during the period of its
existence (12 years) have been $22,319,833. Since it began
paying dividends in 1934 (6 years ago), it has paid to its
parent company $18,100,000 (cash dividends of $14,900,000,
lease negotiations fees of $2,200,000, and research and
development fees of $1,000,000) .
"'The earnings (net) for National for 1938 were in the
amount of $3,434,301.' .
"The total capitalization of National Broadcasting Co. ,
as shown by the report of the Federal Communications Commission,
was never greater than $3,300,000. This makes a total actual cash
investment in both companies of $3,784,307, on which net earnings
during the past 12 years have amounted to some $45,000,000. "
"Newspapers and magazines provide profitable employment,
I understand, for well over 100,000 highly skilled American workers,
the weekly wages of which will probably average close to $50 per
week or some $2,600 per year. On the other hand, it is my under¬
standing that the radio broadcasting industry, as represented by
some 705 radio stations officially reporting to the Federal Com¬
munications Commission, provides steady employment for some 11,000
workers, at an average weekly wage of less than $30 per week, other
than some 2,600 musicians and artists who receive an average of $46
per week, plus an additional 1,000 workers, on part time, who
average some $15 per week and some 2,350 musicians and artists, on
part time, who average some $18 per week.
xxxxxxxx
10/1/40
COUGHLIN SILENCING, STATION'S OH ACTION
According to a statement made by the National Association
of Broadcasters, a portion of which follows, broadcasting stations
throughout the country acted upon their own accord in silencing
Father Coughlin:
"As you know, Father Coughlin announced last week that
he would not conduct his weekly broadcasts this year because of
his inability to secure an adequate number of radio stations. He
accused men 'powerful in radio and in other fields' for his failure
to line up the stations.
"The inability of Father Coughlin to line up stations,
of course, was a result of the voluntary adherence to the NAB Code
by the stations themselves. With the exception of the Code Com¬
mittee statement by Edgar Bill relative to the status of his pro¬
posed political broadcasts, there has not been a single letter,
phone call or contact made with any station by NAB headquarters
about the matter. The action radio stations took was their own,
and marks a real milestone in self-regulation. "
xxxxxxxxx
RICHMOND TIMES- DISPATCH CANCELS STATION APPLICATION
The following order has been issued by the Federal
Communications Commission:
"At a session of the Federal Communications Commission
held at its offices in Washington, D. C. , on the 24th day of
September, 1940, it appearing to the Commission that the Times-
Dispatch Radio Corporation has surrendered for cancellation the
license heretofore issued to it authorizing the operation of WRTD,
Richmond, Virginia, and has requested dismissal of the above-
described application;
"It is ordered, That said application for construction
permit be, and it is hereby, dismissed. "
xxxxxxxxxx
Now is the time to put up that new antenna system.
Before the rains come and the roofs get covered with snow, people
should think about putting up an aerial.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 4 -
10/1/40
ARMY ENLISTING - OLD STYLE AND NEW
It was a coincidence that on the same page of a newspaper
last week there were stories telling how two men prominent in the
radio industry had enlisted in the United States Army.
One of them was Elliott Roosevelt, a Texas radio station
operator, who applied direct to General Arnold, Chief of Army
Aviation, and whose commission as a Captain in non-flying, non-
combatant branches of the air force has created such caustic com¬
ment.
In striking contrast to the way the President's son
went about securing himself a commission, was the other newspaper
article which told how Gen. James G. Harbord, Chairman of the
Board of the Radio Corporation of America, had begun his Amy
career by enlisting as a private.
"That was a good many years ago", General Harbord was
quoted as saying, "but if I had to do the thing over, Ifd do it
in exactly the same way. " General Harbord, who was Chief of Staff
to General Pershing in France and who commanded the Marine Brigade
at Chateau Thierry strongly urged the young men of today to enlist
as he did.
xxxxxxxx
FRANK RUSSELL AND MISS GALE WED
Stealing a march on their friends in the Capital, Frank M.
Russell, Washington Vice-President of the National Broadcasting
Company, and Miss Marian Phebe Gale, NBC Washington Publicity
Director, were married last week in New York. The wedding took
place at the home of Niles Trammell, President of NBC.
Mr. Trammell was best man and Mrs. Trammell the matron
of honor. Others present included Frank Mullen, NBC Vice-Presi¬
dent and General Manager, and Mrs. Mullen; Mr. and Mrs. M. H.
Aylesworth; Mr. and Mrs. Edwin W. Craig (WSM, Nashville); Mark
Woods, NBC Vice-President and Treasurer, and Mrs. Woods: Sid
Strotz, NBC Chicago Vice-President, and Dr. Frank Black, NBC
Vice-President and Musical Director, who played the organ.
XXXXXXXX
The Hawaiian Broadcasting System, Ltd. , at Honolulu
kas applied for a new broadcast station, under the North American
Regional Agreement, to be operated on 1340 kilocycles, 250 watts,
unlimited time.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 5 -
10/1/40
ASCAP CHARGES CHAIN MUZZLING IN S. F.
Declaring that Carrie Jacobs Bond, Charles Wakefield
Cadman, Deems Taylor, Irving Berling, George M. Cohan, Jerome
Kern, Gene Buck, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Tony Martin,
Judy Garland, and about 50 other celebrities who participated in
the Music Festival at the San Francisco World' s Fair were barred
from the air last week, the American Society of Composers declared
that complaint would be made to the Federal Communications Com¬
mission in Washington.
"The action at San Francisco was the opening gun in the
battle of the rain chains to drive members of the American Society
of Composers, Authors and Publishers off the air starting New
Year's Day", an ASCAP account stated. "Chain spokesmen hinted that
the incident was just a mild sample of what ASCAP composers and
authors may expect unless they accept the terms of the radio
chains for the use of their music.
"The World's Fair Music Festival was staged for the pur¬
pose of presenting a cavalcade of American compositions devoted to
American operatic, symphonic and other unforgettable music of the
past and present, and to pay tribute to Victor Herbert, John
Philip Sousa, George Gershwin and others. ASCAP was invited to
present the festival. In response to this invitation, Gene Buck,
President of the Society, assembled an imposing list of prominent
composers in San Francisco."
"Ordinarily the radio chains would have fought for the
privilege of broadcasting such a star-studded program especially
since the services of all artists were offered gratis. In this
case, however, the Columbia Broadcasting System, National Broad¬
casting Company and Mutual Broadcasting System each flatly refused
the request of the Fhir authorities to let the musical event go on
the air. As a consequence the festival was heard only by those
actually present at the Fair and was denied to radio listeners
throughout the country.
"Station KFWB, Los Angeles, operated by Warner Bros.
Pictures, volunteered to broadcast the Festival on the Pacific
Coast, but were unable to secure the necessary physical facilities
and cooperation from the chains.
"Astounded at the action of the chains in not only muzzl¬
ing the composers and artists but also depriving the public of a
rare musical treat, a committee of World's Fair officials and com¬
posers is understood to be planning a special trip to Washington
to file a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion. It is charged that the chains, in boycotting the Musical
Festival, have violated an important FCC regulation requiring
broadcasters to operate 'in the public interest'."
-f • ? .'tf
■ : 2-i
10/1/40
Gene Buck said:
"The radio chains have usurped control of the air.
Today they have given the public a perfect illustration of their
monopoly. We will challenge that monopoly by every legal means
at our command. "
John G. Paine, General Manager of ASCAP, stated:
"This is part of a carefully conceived campaign by the
radio chains to dominate all phases of broadcasting. By ruth¬
lessly boycotting the works of our composers and authors, they
can force the use of music put out by their subsidized music firm,
BMI, and thus make their monopoly of the air complete. "
XXX XXXXXXX
TO CELEBRATE TWENTY YEARS OF RADIO PROGRESS
With November, 1940, radio completes 20 years of miracu¬
lous progress - 20 years that have changed the habits of the nation
and put some 52 million radio sets into American homes and autos.
To mark this 20th Milestone of Radio, a group of leaders
in the radio industry, led by 0. H. Caldwell, Editor of Radio
Today , has suggested that the entire month of November be devoted
to a Radio Industry celebration, to be shared in by broadcasters,
radio manufacturers, distributors, dealers and servicemen. They
would have radio stores, radio stations and all radio centers take
part in this great industry promotion, coming just before Christmas.
XXXXXXXXXX
RADIO SUGGESTED BY EDUCATORS IN DEFENSE
For schools which accept as their role in the present
crisis not merely passive acceptance of this statement, but posit¬
ive action, the Commission (Educational Policies Commission) sug¬
gests the following steps:
"Appoint a committee to engage all local educative and
public opinion forming agencies in a unified program for the
defense of democracy. Organize discussion groups to aid adults
to reach sound conclusions on the urgent questions of national
policy. Revitalize the citizenship teaching in the school. Secure
the cooperation of the newspapers in advancing the whole program.
Use the radio to dramatize the American struggle for self-determi¬
nation. "
XXXXXXXXXX
7
10/1/40
RADIO EXPORTS OF JULY
Exports of American radio last July totaled $1,498,310,
according to the latest report of the U. S. Bureau of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce. This was a decrease of 11.2 percent from the
corresponding month of July, 1939, of $1,686,714. Radio exports
in July, 1940, were only slightly below the total of June of this
year which were $1,601,675.
The number of receiving sets exported in July numbered
32,367, valued at $670,169, as against July, 1939, exports of
35,998, valued at $618,890.
Tube exports in July numbered 409,934, valued at
$137,258, compared with July, 1939 exports of 607,160 tubes, valued
at $245,065.
Parts and accessory exports in July totaled $391,670
as compared with July, 1939, exports of $472,325.
The number of radio speakers exported in July numbered
29,535, valued at $32,294 as compared with 44,219, valued at
$69,587 in July, 1939. Transmitting apparatus exported was valued
at $266,919 as against $280,847 in July, 1939.
xxxxxxxxxx
CONTENDS RADIO INCREASES NEWSPAPER READING
Radio fosters reading of newspapers and as the educational,
cultural, and economic level rises, the amount of radio listening
declines.
That’s the principal conclusion of a survey of radio’s
role in the communication of ideas, a survey conducted by the Office
of Radio Research, Columbia University, and financed by the Rocke¬
feller Foundation.
Other noteworthy points made by Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Dir¬
ector of the Office of Radio Research, in his new book "Radio and
the Printed Page ,r (published by Due 11, Sloan & Pearce, $4) which
details the findings of the survey are: That radio newscasting
increases, instead of diminishing, interest in reading newspapers.
That those who depend on the newspaper for their news are more
interested in news than those who depend on the radio. That serious
and educational programs are listened to primarily by those who
have the least need for further education and information, shunned
by those whom they are intended to educate and inform.
XXXXXXXX
- 8 -
10/1/40
TRADE NOTES
The Cleveland City Board of Education has been granted
authority by the Federal Communications Commission to change that
school system's non-commercial education radio service from
amplitude modulation to frequency modulation.
The Government of Brazil is sponsoring a series of radio
broadcasts to United States listeners, presenting Drew Pearson and
Robert S. Allen, nationally known columnists and commentators, in
a weekly radio edition of "Washington Merry-Go-Round". The program
is patterned after the Pearson and Allen syndicated column with the
addition of news and comment on Brazilian affairs. It is heard
over an 8-station NBC Blue Network from 7:00 to 7:15 P.M. , EST,
Sunday nights.
Two more utilities have ordered FM emergency communica¬
tions systems from the General Electric Co. - the San Antonio
Public Service Company, San Antonio, Texas, and the San Diego Gas
and Electric Company, San Diego, Calif.
Evansville on the Air, Inc., at Evansville, Ind. , is
operating a "walkie talkie" portable radio set used by the Indiana
National Guard to transmit a recruiting program in connection with
National Guard Week broadcast by Stations WEOA and WGBF, Evansville
Station WIZE, Springfield, Ohio, becomes an affiliate of
the National Broadcasting Company, effective November 1, or at such
earlier date as the station commences regular operation, announces.
WIZE becomes a bonus outlet to advertisers using the facilities of
Station WING, Dayton, Ohio.
The No-Bel Radio Burglar Alarm Company of Oakland, Calif,
will be given a further hearing by the Federal Communications Com¬
mission with regard to application for stations at Oakland and
San Francisco.
The General Motors Research Division has been granted
temporary authority by the Federal Communications Commission to
install an aircraft radio station aboard NX-25463 with 10 watts
power and 3105 kilocycles.
XXXXXXXXXX
9
lo/i,; 40
APPARENT I.T.& T. DROP CAUSED BY U. S. DOLLAR DECREASE
In hie Fall report to stockholders, Sosthenes Behn,
President of the International Telephone & Telegraph Corporation
explains :
"The decrease of approximately $900,000 in telephone and
radio-telephone ope rating revenues, as compared with the similar
period of 1939, was caused by the decrease in the U. S. dollar
value of the foreign currencies realized from such operations.
Actually, the revenues in local foreign currencies for the period
in question were in every case in excess of those for the similar
period of 1939. "
XXXXXXXXX
G.E. STEAMS UP FOR 50 KW FM STATION
Application has been made by the General Electric Company
to the Federal Communications Commission for permission to extend
the power of its FM station, W2X0Y, from the present licensed
powers of 2500 watts to 50,000 watts. Operating on 43.9 mega¬
cycles, W2X0Y is located on the Helderberg Mts. , 1200 feet above
the valley floor. It overlooks Albany, Schenectady, and Troy and
will serve an area of 16,030 square miles populated by 1,560,000
potential listeners.
XXXXXXXX
WINCHELL FREED ON RADIO CHARGE
Supreme Court Justice Peter Schmuck dismissed as against
the Radio Corporation of America, the National Broadcasting Company
and the Andrew Jergens Company, a $1,000,000 libel suit brought by
Joseph Curran as President of the National Maritime Union of America,
because of remarks allegedly made by Walter Winchell in a broadcast
on June 9. The court said the language used in the broadcast was
not specified by the plaintiff. Justice Schmuck refused to dismiss
the suit as against Mr. Winchell and The Daily Mirror, Inc. , for
statements made in Mr. Winchell 's column on June 10.
XXXXXXXXX
10
10/1/40
BARRED FROM USING REMINGTON NAME
The Federal Trade Commission has issued an order requir¬
ing Automatic Radio Manufacturing Company, Inc., Boston, Galvin
Manufacturing Corporation, Chicago, and the Pep Boys - Manny, Moe
and Jack, Inc. , Philadelphia, to cease and desist from unauthorized
use of the trade name "Remington" to designate radios, tubes and
other radio parts.
Commission findings are that the Automatic and Galvin
companies, manufacturers, sold radio sets and parts bearing the
name Remington exclusively to the Pep Boys’ organization, which
operates a chain of 52 stores in various cities, and that the two
manufacturing corporations have cooperated with the Pep Boys company
in adopting and using the name Remington to identify and designate
radios sold by them to the Pep Boys company for resale to the pur¬
chasing public.
The name Remington, according to findings, is the name
or part of the name of a number of corporations well known and
long established, some of which employ it as a trade name, mark
or brand for the products they make and sell; and the respondents’
use of the name has been without the authority or consent of any
of the corporations which have heretofore so used it.
The Commission order directs the Automatic Radio Manu¬
facturing Company, Inc. , Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, and the
Pep Boys - Manny, Moe and Jack, Inc., in connection with the sale
of radio sets, tubes and parts, to cease and desist from using the
word "remington" or any simulation of it, whether spelled the same
or not, as a brand or name to mark, designate, describe or refer to
radios, radio tubes or other radio parts.
The Commission further ordered that its complaint in
this proceeding be dismissed as to the Ferguson Radio and Televi¬
sion Company, Inc., New York, which was named as a respondent in
the complaint, but which is no longer in business.
XXXXXXXX
ATTORNEYS' APPLICATIONS APPROVED
Applications for the following attorneys to practice be¬
fore the Federal Communications Commission were approved by the
Commission :
Raymond A. Bartlett, New York, N. Y. ; Eugene Best, River¬
side, Calif. ; Clifton W. Brannon, Toccoa, Ga. ; Delbridge L. Gibbs,
Dallas, Tex.; Walter East Hempstead, Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.;
Samuel Jacobs, Albany, N.Y. ; George H. Leonard, Fort Wayne, Ind. ;
Henry Mayer, New York, N.Y. ; Richard Arthur Ruppert, Cincinnati,
Ohio, and Doyle Willis, Dallas, Texas.
xxxxxxxxxx
- 11 -
10/1/40
NBC INTERNATIONAL STATIONS BOOM
With improved beam antennas, Stations WRCA and WNBI,
broadcasting with 50,000 watt transmitters of the NBC will become
two of the most powerful in the world.
At the same time, the International Division of NBC has
just moved to larger quarters in Radio City and - from the pulsat¬
ing nerve center - during sixteen hours of every twenty-four, an
uncensored chronicle of world events is flashed across the seven
seas to millions of eager listeners. The broadcasts are in Spanish,
Portuguese, French, Italian, German and English.
The success and expansion of NBC's International Division
is attributable to the superb collaboration of a staff of forty men
and women directed by Guy C. Hickok who has spent fifteen years of
his busy life in foreign countries in the collection and dissemina¬
tion of news.
Before opening its world wide short-wave service, RCA- NBC
engineers had made comprehensive field tests over several years and
more than three-quarters of a million dollars had been spent to
perfect transmission and reception of the radio programs throughout
the world, according to an NBC statement, more of which follows:
"There are 3,500,000 radio sets in Latin America, of which
it is estimated that 2,100,000 are equipped for short-wave reception
For nine hours daily, the beams of WRCA and WNBI are directed to
these listeners. Eight of these hours carry programs in Spanish
and Portuguese. There is also an American Hour in English for
Americans away from home. Broadcasts during the evening hours on
directional beams range from the pooulous cities of the East Coast
of South America, over the high Andes to the important cities in the
West, and over Mexico and the Caribbean area, thereby providing the
maximum of reception in the centers of population.
"But do Latin Americans tune in to NBC international pro¬
grams? Conclusive proof may be found in the fact that nearly 24,000
letters were received from listeners South of the Rio Grande as a
result of the Louis-Godoy boxing match, carried to Latin America in
Spanish from the ringside in Madison Square Gardon on the night of
February 8.
"NBC received 40,000 letters in 1939 from listeners in
eighty-two countries, protectorates and territories, covering every
comer of the globe, in response to its daily programs. This year's
mail is running at a rate of over 60,000 letters. Not only do the
NBC International stations broadcast their programs to a daily
audience of 2,100,000 families in Latin America but also to many
millions more throughout the world. "
XXXXXXXXXX
12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF OCTOBER 4, 1940
Try The Short Wave Bands, Caldwell Urges . 2
Request Of St. Louis Broadcaster Denied . 4
WMCA To Move To New Site . 4
Diplomats To Dedicate Powerful New Crosley Station . 5
Magazine Writer Pans Mr. Fly . 6
FCC Amends FM Rules And Regulations . 8
New Safety Foot Control Auto Radio . 10
German Sets Increase 100,000 Per Month . 10
International Stations Called For National Defense Conference.il
Philips Radio Management Reported In New York . 11
U. S. Short-Wave Program Sponsorship Renewed . 12
New G. E.. Transmitter Manufacturing Building . 12
Columbia Billings Up 21 Percent. . 12
No. 1271
TRY THE SHORT WAVE BANDS, CALDWELL URGES
If you have explored only the broadcast band, you have
explored only a very small part of radio's vast empire, Dr.
Orestes H. Caldwell, former U. S. Ra.dio Commissioner, told a
coast-to-coast audience.
"When I was a young boy, I remember that there came into
my hands, in some way, one single volume out of an encyclopedia
set", Dr. Caldwell, who is also the radio industry's Number 1
editor, said. "This particular volume covered only the letters
B and C, but I read it intensively, all the way from Botany and
Boxing, clear through to Crabs and Cracow. I learned all about
Bunyan, Bunker Hill, Carbolic Acid and Cervantes. But for a long
time I wondered what other marvels must lie beyond the borders of
that single volume with which I had become so familiar.
"In much the same way, a radio listener who confines him
self to listening merely on the broadcast band is shutting himself
out from the rest of the vast alphabet of radio. He is covering
letters B and C all right, but he is overlooking a whole world of
fascinating information and entertainment that is to be found
along the rest of radio's expanse.
"For the broadcast band, from 550 kc to 1600 kc, which
we know so well, covers only about 1000 kc, as you will see by
subtracting 550 from 1600. Compared with this, the total radio
frequencies now available add up to about one hundred million
kilocycles - or 100,000 times as much as the small broadcast range
which you tune back and forth. "
"Already great sections of the radio short-wave spectrum
are occupied and in use, and you will find much fascinating enter¬
tainment as you explore these channels below the broadcast band.
"First come the police wavelengths, clearly marked on
your shortwave dial. And if you are the kind of person who turns
to look at a motorcycle cop speeding after a culprit, or a patrol
wagon full of policemen dashing to quell a riot, you will find the
police bands a perpetual carnival of adventure and protection
against crime. Fights, neighborhood rows, accidents and fugitive
criminals pour out of these police bands in unending succession.
From your vantage point of your own radio short wave set, you can
probably tune in on half a dozen city and state police departments
and so get a composite picture of the incessant activity of these
tireless officers of the law.
"Next there are the airplane communication channels, -
also marked on your dials. Tune in these and listen to pilots
10,000 ft. aloft, guiding great commercial transoort planes and
- 2 -
10/4/40
talking to the dispatch officers at the landing fields. Hear the
man in the tower order one plane to remain aloft, while he lets
another plane make a safe landing on the field. Hear weather
reports coming in from pilots over the mountains. And if a storm
or fog comes up suddenly, you may tune in on some thrilling drama
of the skies, as the traffic officers and pilots report quick but
fateful decisions to go through, go over, or land at some un¬
scheduled emergency field .
"Then, too, there are also the amateurs or 'hams'
chattering away on these particular reservations in the short-wave
band. Radio amateurs, as you will find, usually busy themselves
with talking on the air with other hams halfway across the conti¬
nent about the relative merits of their 'rigs’, their antennas
and the circuits they are using. But when an emergency arises,
such as a flood, hurricane or earthquake, shutting down regular
communication, the hams are alwa.ys 'there' rendering invaluable
public service by relaying vital messages when no other means are
available. At such times, the amateur channels fairly sparkle
with drama and adventure.
"But most interesting of all the short-wave bands nowa¬
days, of course, are the international news channels bringing us
direct news from the European capitals. These give every owner
of a radio with a short-wave band, the opportunity to listen in
directly to the official statements by the representatives of the
nations that are broadcasting. "
"Few people make use of the short-wave bands to listen
to foreign stations direct, or know the secret of successful
tuning-in on the short-wave spectrum.
"Simply turn the short-wave tuning dial very slowly
while the volume control is turned high. The listener must then
listen intently, and if he comes upon a program, tune squarely in
to its center for best reception. Tuning in the short-wave band
is a matter of the most careful fingering, for the width of a
hair may tune in or out an imoortant foreign broadcast.
"The places where the foreign broadcasts come in on your
dial are undoubtedly marked by groups - 16 meters, 19 meters, 25
meters, 31 meters and 49 meters. Most of the foreign broadcasts
are sent out on all or many of these wavelengths, so that you can
tune in the program at the wavelength which is reaching you best
at the time. Because daylight ha s a very important effect on
shortwaves, owing to the sun's ionization of the atmosphere, the
16-meter band will be found best for morning reception. In the
afternoon, use 19 and 25 meters. In the early evening tune to
25 and 31 meters. And late at night use 31 and 49 meters.
"Here are some of the European news broadcasts which are
heard best in the United States during regular listening hours:
3
10/4/40
London -
9:00
9:00
A. M. , 12 Noon, 2 P .M.
P.M. , and 10:30 P.M. ■
, 4:50,
- all E.
5:45
, S.T.
and 7
Berlin -
7:15
P.M. , 9:15 P.M. , 1:00
A.M. -
all
E. S. T.
Rome
7:15,
11:00 P.M , and 1:00
A.M. -
all
E. S. T.
Moscow -
8:00
and 9:00 P.M. , E. S. T.
Hungary-
8:00
P.M. , E. S. T.
"I can assure you that short-wave listening gives one
a never-ending thrill - especially if you stop occasionally to
think about the miracle you are experiencing. With all our modern
transportation, the travel time across the Atlantic is still four
or five days by boat, and one day by clipper plane. Yet, seated
in your easy chair, you can travel this very night to Europe half
a dozen times. You travel on the wings of radio, which requires
only one-fiftieth of a second to make the trip across the Atlantic
You'll hear in orderly succession the statements of nations actual
ly at each others' throats. It's as though in the midst of some
great championship prizefight, we could tune in on the mental
processes of the contestants and hear what they are thinking,
between blows.' " _
xxxxxxxxx
REQUEST OF ST. LOUIS BROADCASTER DENIED
The Federal Communications Commission has denied the
request of Thomas Patrick, Inc., of St. Louis for indefinite
extension of time within which to submit proposed antenna speci¬
fications. The FCC has advised the licensee that unless the
required information is received by the close of business on Novem
ber 2, 1940, the construction permit for modification of license
will be retired to the closed files for failure to comply with the
terms thereof.
xxxxxxxx
WMCA TO MOVE TO NEW SITE
Everything is set for Station MCA, the Knickerbocker
Broadcasting Co., at Hew York City, to move its composite trans¬
mitter from College Point Causeway, Flushing, to the site of the
new main transmitter at Belleville Turnpike, Kearny, N. J. It
will use directional antenna day and night. An excellent view of
the new MCA plant may be had from the Pennsylvania Railroad train
as one enters New York City from Philadelphia.
10/4/40
DIPLOMATS TO DEDICATE POWERFUL NEW CROSLEY STATION
The forging of a powerful radio link between the United
States and its Latin American neighbors to the south will be
officially completed on Saturday, October 12, with the dedication
of the new 50 KW WLWO, international short-wave station of the
Crosley Corporation.
Representatives of the Department of State, ambassadors
and ministers of most of the Latin American republics, and other
nationally prominent speakers will take part in a two-and-a-half
hour program to be carried by WLWO, originating in Cincinnati and
Washington, D. C. The first hour of the ceremonies will be
relayed to listeners on the standard broadcasting band by WLW,
from 8 to 9 P.M. , EST.
In addition to diplomatic representatives, whose names
will be announced later, the speakers will include Dr. Leo S.
Rowe, Director-General of the Pan American Union, and Thomas
Burke, Chief of the Communications Division of the State Depart¬
ment. Representatives of the Federal Communications Commission
also will appear. The first hour will be broadcast in Spanish
and English.
The second portion of the dedicatory program will in¬
clude addressed by Francisco Castillo Najera, Mexican Ambassador;
Capitan Colon Elo.y Alfaro, Ecuadorian Ambassador; Diogenes
Escalante, Venezuelan Ambassador; Adrian Recinos, Guatemalan
Minister; Leon De Bayle, Nicaraguan Minister; Hector David Castro,
Minister from El Salvador, and Julian Caceres, Minister from
Honduras. This section portion will be conducted in Spanish,
Portuguese and French languages.
At the hour of the dedication ceremonies, WLWO will be
operating on a frequency of 15,270 kilocycles (19.6 meters), one
of the six wavelengths for which it has been licensed by the FCC.
First experimental broadcasts over WLWO at present power
were conducted last April. The station operates with a power out¬
put of 50,000 watts, which by virtue of a directional beam toward
South America, reaches an optimum power of 600,000 watts in the
territory it covers.
The station’s transmitter is located at Mason, Ohio. It
uses a rhombic, or diamond- shaped antenna, which focuses the radio
beam in the comparatively narrow path used for transmission to the
Latin American countries. Its programs, like those of WLW, origi¬
nate in Cincinnati studios.
Recently, application for power of 75,000 watts for the
short-wave outlet was filed with the FCC.
XXXXXXXXX
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10/4/40
MAGAZINE WRITER PANS MR. FLY
No public official was ever more thoroughly scorched
than Chairman James L. Fly in an article "Trouble in Television"
by Alva Johnston in the September 29th issue of the Saturday
Evening Post. Extracts from the article follow:
"Television was ready last March to sweep the country
when its progress was suddenly checked by Washington’s discovery
that Americans in ordinary circumstances were too poor to buy
television sets and must be protected from the temptation by the
Federal Government. "
"Chairman Fly is one of the sponsors of the theory that
people of moderate and low incomes should be protected against
television because of a supposititious danger that the present-
day television sets may soon become obsolete .
"A precedent for Chairman Fly’s camoaign to protect the
poor against luxuries is to be found in the records of seventeenth-
century trials in Boston, where women were convicted and fined for
wearing silk, unless able to prove that their husbands were worth
more than $1,000 .
"Frank R. Dutcher, of Balmville Road, Newburgh, (N. Y. ) ,
has a small television set. . . . Chairman Fly, of the FCC, visit¬
ed the Dutchers to see their television set in operation.
'" The first thing that Chairman Fly said' , said Mrs.
Dutcher, 'is "This is going to kill the movies."’"
"The FCC’s attack on television started early this year.
In February, the FCC authorized David Sarnoff, President of the
Radio Corporation of America, to start a campaign to sell tele¬
vision sets. In March, the Commission attacked Sarnoff for carry¬
ing out the authorized plan. In April, Chairman Fly testified
before a Senate Committee that the FCC had been wrong and that
Sarnoff had been right. "
"Chairman Fly's exolanation before the Senate Committee
was that the FCC had 'misjudged the situation'. Several of the
seven members of the FCC have long records as business baiters.
The transcript of the television hearings before the ^CC makes
it fairly clear that some of the Commissioners are the kind of
men who would rather have a controversy than an industry. "
"There is only one practical television man on the Com¬
mission. This is Cora. T.A.M. Craven, a retired naval officer and
radio engineer. He described the Commission's attitude as 'absurd
on its face'. Former Governor Norman S. Case, of Rhode Island,
is another Commissioner who has not participated in the hostil¬
ities against television.
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10/4/40
"Had Sarnoff been a smaller man, there probably would
not have been any trouble in television. A less important figure
would not have been attractive as a target for an anti-big-busi¬
ness crusade. "
"Fly became a trust-buster in the Department of Justice
in the time of President Hoover, and later a battleragainst util¬
ities as a lawyer for TVA. He is, according to one Washington
columnist, ’the cockiest' official who ever 'scuttled an economic
royalist's ship'. He sees signs of big-business conspiracies in
the most innocent words. He once interrupted a television engi¬
neer who testified that a certain engineering practice was ’recom¬
mended' .
"'I've been in the antitrust business for five years',
said Fly, 'and I'm afraid of the word "recommendation". '
"Uproars have a habit of following Fly around. What is
said to have been one of the most painful scenes in the history of
the Supreme Court occurred on November 15, 1938, when Fly insulted
Justice Roberts, who was inquiring as to the meaning of a phrase.
"'It is clear everywhere except in your honor's mind',
said Fly.
"Fly treats witnesses before the FCC with no more ceremony
than if they were Supreme Court justices. Lewis Allen Weiss, of
Los Angeles, an executive of the Don Lee organization, was testify¬
ing that the Don Lee policy was to seek the best that there was in
television.
"Fly cut in, 'That's Rotary Club talk. That's just a
Rotary Club speech about American democracies have always progress¬
ed, and we will find the ways, and all that sort of stuff. '
"When Fly became Chairman of the FCC a year ago, he
decreed that everybody should rise when the Commissioners enter the
room. The custom of rising in courtrooms at the entrance of judges
goes back a thousand years or so to the time when a judge was sup¬
posed to be, not the personal representative of the king but the
king himself.
"It would show a better sense of the fitness of things
if the Commissioners jumped up every time a taxpayer entered the
room. "
XXXXXXXXX
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FCC AMENDS EM RULES AND REGULATIONS
For the purpose of providing more effective use of the
limited number of channels available for high frequency broadcast
stations (FM), the Federal Communications Commission has amended
the Rules and Regulations Governing High Frequency Broadcast
Stations so as to clarify the requirements as to the areas to be
served. Under the amendment the 35 channels are divided in three
groups as previously. However, the extent of the service area of
stations operating on these frequencies is defined more specifical¬
ly.
The terms "basic trade area" and "limited trade area"
are coined for the purpose of defining and establishing the area
to be served by high frequency broadcast stations. In addition
to these two areas, rural areas are also recognized as service
areas. The meaning of rural area as used for this purpose is sub¬
stantially the same as that defined by the Census Bureau except
for certain modifications for radio purposes. Trade areas, both
basic and limited, are selected as the best means of establishing
the service of high frequency stations.
There will be approximately 625 basic trade areas. The
Commission will establish the boundaries of these areas on the
basis of a showing made by applicants and other Government economic
radio coverage data. Special consideration will be given to the
radio coverage limitations, but as far as possible, the retail
trading area will be followed. Each area will have one or more
stations designed to serve the entire area, but since the area
may vary widely in size, the effective radiation (determined by
antenna height, antenna gain and power) from stations in different
areas will vary widely. To permit the stations in the large cities
to extend their areas beyond the trade area would necessarily
result in a situation where some areas which could otherwise sup¬
port a station would not be able to do so, and as a result, the
plan for uniform distribution of service where technically and
economically feasible would be impaired.
Twenty-two channels are assigned to be used by stations
serving basic and limited trade areas in which the city in which
the station is located has a population of over 25,000. Six chan¬
nels are reserved for the basic and limited trade areas in which
the city in which the station is located has population less than
25,000.
In case an application is submitted for a station to
serve an area which has not been established and recognized by the
Commission as a service area for high frequency broadcast sta¬
tions, the applicant must submit the necessary data to permit the
establishment of the area as a service area.. In case of basic
trade areas, a composite map should be made from the several sources
on retail trading areas. The following are recognized sources of
information: J. Walter Thompson (Retail Shopping Areas),
Hearst Magazines, Inc. (Consumer Trading Areas), Rand McNally Map
Company (Trading Areas), and Hagstrom Map Company’s Four Color
- 8 -
10/4/40
Retail Trading Area Map. If other reliable sources of informa¬
tion are available, they may also be drawn on the composite
trade area map. This map may best be made on copy drawing paper
with the area boundaries from various sources in different colors.
Stations designed to cover a limited trade area must
also have an established service area. The Hagstrom Map Company's
Four Color Retail Trading Area Map may best be used to assist in
determining the service area.
In covering a trade area, the transmitter must be so
located that good service is delivered to the trade center of such
area and the field intensity contour bounding the service area of
the station should conform generally with established boundary of
the trade area. In rugged terrain or sparse population, special
consideration must be given to the service area in light of the
entineering and economic factors involved. A station designed to
serve a basic trade area in which the principal city constitutes
one of the metropolitan districts, as determined by the Census
Bureau, must deliver a signal of at least 1 mv/m throughout the
business district of each city in the metropolitan district with
population over 10,000.
Seven channels are assigned for stations designed to
serve primarily large rural areas which cannot be served satis¬
factorily by stations serving basic and limited trade areas due
to technical or economic limitations. These stations are per¬
mitted to serve principal cities or other cities provided that in
giving this service, they do not sacrifice their rural service
which the station is designated to serve. These stations cannot
be located so that their service area coincides with limited or
basic area station. The location ordinarily would utilize high
topographical locations to permit of the coverage of large rural
areas which must be at least 15,000 square miles except in special
cases provided in the rules. The purpose of these stations is to
round out the service to the rural area which these stations can
supply, tut could not be supplied by the stations designated to
serve trade areas. The key to these stations is large rural cover¬
age without competitive advantages over trade area stations.
By Section 3.283(d), an area of unusual characteristics
is recognized as a service area which does not fall under the pat¬
tern as outlined above. Such an area will be recognized as the
service area of a station only in special cases where a definite
need can be shown and where unfair competition will not arise.
The general plan as outlined for the areas in Section 3.223(a), (b)
and (c) is necessary to give a well rounded out technical service
and create a sound economic basis for allocation. This special
service area is established only for the very unusual case which
may arise but which must not result in a substantial departure
from the purpose and plan in rendering service to the public by
means of high frequency broadcast stations.
XXXXXXXX
- 9 -
10/4/40
NEW SAFETY FOOT CONTROL AUTO RADIO
The Zenith Radio Corporation of Chicago displayed
publicly this week for the first time the new safety foot con¬
trolled automobile radio development.
"For years the trend of the automotive engineers has
been to take the controls such as the throttle, the accelerator,
the light dimmer switch and other devices away from the hands of
the driver and place them under his feet to operate so that the
eyes may be kept on the road and the hands on the wheel", Hugh
Robertson, Vice-President and Treasurer of Zenith, explains.
"Now comes the Safety Foot Controlled auto radio develop'
ment which permits the driver to change stations at will, com¬
pletely silence the radio, or turn it on instantly with a single
foot control while the driver keeps his eyes on the road and his
hands on the wheel.
"With the left foot the driver pushes the lever all the
way down and it automatically tunes the radio to the next station.
When the passenger or the driver desires to talk, a slight pres¬
sure of the left foot on the same switch which resembles a dimmer
switch instantly silences the radio program; lift the foot and
the program is on again without waiting for the radio to warm up.
"This safety silencer feature is also of value to permit
listening when approaching railroad crossings, etc. The safety
foot control also allows an additional extension to the rear seat,
so that ‘back seat drivers’ may control the radio if they desire."
This Foot Controlled Radio was developed and patented by
Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. , President of the Zenith Radio Cor¬
poration, and will be shown at the New York and Chicago Automobile
Shows on the Lincoln, Zephyr, Nash, Mercury, and Ford cars.
XXXXXXXXX
GERMAN SETS INCREASE 100,000 PER MONTH
The number of licensed radio receiving sets in Greater
Germany (inclusive of the new Eastern Provinces but exclusive of
the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and of the occupied
areas) amounted to 14,431,142 on June 1, 1940, an increase of
103,224 over the preceding month, the American Embassy in Berlin
reports. This number includes 1,022,061 sets which are exempted
from paying the license fee for social reasons.
XXXXXXXXX
10 -
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10/4/40
NEW SAFETY FOOT CONTROL AUTO RADIO
The Zenith Radio Corporation of Chicago displayed
publicly this week for the first time the new safety foot con¬
trolled automobile radio development.
"For years the trend of the automotive engineers has
been to take the controls such as the throttle, the accelerator,
the light dimmer switch and other devices away from the hands of
the driver and place them under his feet to operate so that the
eyes may be kept on the road and the hands on the wheel", Hugh
Robertson, Vice-President and Treasurer of Zenith, explains.
"Now comes the Safety s’oot Controlled auto radio develop'
ment which permits the driver to change stations at will, com¬
pletely silence the radio, or turn it on instantly with a single
foot control while the driver keeps his eyes on the road and his
hands on the wheel.
"With the left foot the driver pushes the lever all the
way down and it automatically tunes the radio to the next station.
When the passenger or the driver desires to talk, a slight pres¬
sure of the left foot on the same switch which resembles a dimmer
switch instantly silences the radio program; lift the foot and
the program is on again without waiting for the radio to warn up.
"This safety silencer feature is also of value to permit
listening when approaching railroad crossings, etc. The safety
foot control also allows an additional extension to the rear seat,
so that 'back seat drivers’ may control the radio if they desire."
This Foot Controlled Radio was developed and patented by
Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. , President of the Zenith Radio Cor¬
poration, and will be shown at the New York and Chicago Automobile
Shows on the Lincoln, Zephyr, Nash, Mercury, and Ford cars.
XXXXXXXXX
GERMAN SETS INCREASE 100,000 PER MONTH
The number of licensed radio receiving sets in Greater
Germany (inclusive of the new Eastern Provinces but exclusive of
the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and of the occupied
areas) amounted to 14,431,142 on June 1, 1940, an increase of
103,224 over the preceding month, the American Embassy in Berlin
reports. This number includes 1,022,061 sets which are exempted
from paying the license fee for social reasons.
XXXXXXXXX
10 -
10/4/40
INTERNATIONAL STATIONS CALLED FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE CONFERENCE
Federal Communications Commission plans, as a part
of National Defense, to exercise stricter control over interna¬
tional broadcast programs from United States stations will be
discussed at a conference in Washington Monday, October 7.
The FCC proposal would require all international sta¬
tions to put their program plans in writing, prohibit them from
deviating from the written programs and would require them to
record all broadcasts.
Among those who may participate in the conference Monday
are Guy C. Hickok, of the National Broadcasting Company; Walter
Evans and J. B. Rock, of We stinghouse ; E. S. Darlington, of
General Electric; James Shouse, of the Crosley Radio Corporation;
Miss Tucker, of the Columbia Broadcasting System, and Walter S.
Lemmon, of World-Wide.
Under the Defense program the FCC has set up an elabor¬
ate net of listening stations with recording apparatus, enabling
the Government to collect its own evidence, although it is con¬
tended the Commission is without authority to copy private mes¬
sages and turn them over to the Department of Justice without
violating the Commission's own statute.
The Commission some months ago tried to put in a rule
requiring international stations to broadcast only programs re¬
flecting the culture of the United States, but the move was viewed
by some as censorship and was protested by the radio industry and
o the r group s . ^ — —
XXXXXXXXXX
PHILIPS RADIO MANAGEMENT REPORTED IN NEW YORK
It is understood from a Department of Commerce bulletin,
that the management of the Philips concern is in New York and that
Philips radios are now being sent to Curacao from New York. The
transfer of the headquarters of the Philips concern was a legal
one carrying no active business operation with it. The company
is represented in Curacao by a director, Professor A. S. Oppenheim.
XXXXXXXXX
Led by KYW of the Westinghouse Company in Philadelphia,
being boosted from 10 to 50 KW, power increases have been granted
as follows: WBRC, Birmingham, Ala., from 1 to 5 KW; WDWJ, Times-
World Corp. , Roanoke, Va. , 1 to 5 KW; KMED, Medford, Ore., 250
watts to 1 KW. , and WNEW, New York, from 1 to 5 KW.
xxxxxxxx
11 -
10/4/40
U.S. SHORT-WAVE PROGRAM SPONSORSHIP RENEWED
S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., makers of Johnson's Camu
Self-Polishing Glo-Coat, and other wax products, have renewed
their sponsorship for thirteen additional weeks of two short-wave,
foreign-language, broadcast series directed to Latin America over
NBC short-wave stations WBNI and WRCA beginning October 11.
In order to reach the greatest potential audience, broad¬
casts in both Spanish and Portuguese are being made. The Spanish
program, "Las Estrellas de Hollywood" (The Stars of Hollywood)
features Olga Andree as commentator and de Olivares as announcer,
and is heard Friday nights at 9:30 to 9:45 EST. The Portuguese
program "La Vida en Hollywood" (Life in Hollywood) features
Iracema de Mello as commentator and Fernando de Sa as announcer,
and is heard Friday nights at 7:15 to 7:30 EST.
S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. was one of the first national
advertisers to utilize short-wave broadcasting in developing the
Latin- American market for their products. These two series of
broadcasts which began July 12, 1940, were placed through Erwin,
Wasey & Co. , Inc.
xxxxxxxx
NEW G.E. TRANSMITTER MANUFACTURING BLDG.
The General Electric Company announces that contracts
have been awarded for the construction of a new building in its
Schenectady works to be used in the manufacture of radio trans¬
mitters. The building will be of brick and steel construction,
800 feet by 168, with provision for multi-story offices in front
The cost probably will be in excess of $500,000.
X XXXXXXXX
COLUMBIA BILLINGS UP 21 PERCENT
Columbia Broadcasting System billings in September
amounted to $3,108,448, against $2,563,132 in the 1939 month, an
increase of 21.3 percent. The cumulative total for the first nine
months was $29,512,875, a gain of 22.1 percent over the $24,169,694
last year. Mutual’s September billings were $283,463, a 34.6 per¬
cent increase over the $210,589 last year. The total for the nine-*
month period was $2,777,833, against $2,256,817 in 1939, a gain of
23.1 percent.
XXXXXXXX
12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
3ARTMENT
i d) [| if j] § ^ ; • i \
Uli
OGT 9
1940,
INDEX TO ISSUE OF OCTOBER 8, 1940
Educators Shy At Monopoly Report . 2
Philips Reports Adequate Radios On Hand In India . 3
Estimates Mrs. Roosevelt's Broadcast Earnings At $450,000 . 4
BMI Stockholders Receive Encouraging Report . 5
Hollywood's New Television Station Ready January 1 . 6
Rockefeller To Include Radio In Cultural Work . 7
More FM Permits Sought . 7
Navy Day Receiving Set Competition . 7
ASCAP Blitzer Apparently Unworried. .
Chicago Police Try FM On Large Scale
Radio Engineers' Convention .
Trade Notes . 9
Stations Seek More Power . . . 10
RCA Stands By Employees Entering Service . 11
WOR Television Station To Be On Air Irt 9 Months . 11
New Job Created For John Royal . 12
G-. E. Takes Over Complete Operation Of WGY . 12
No. 1272
CD CO CO
"
; ,
■
October 8, 1940
EDUCATORS SHY AT MONOPOLY REPORT
The National Committee on Education by Radio takes the
FCC Monopoly Investigation for quite a ride.
"Early in June a special committee of the Federal Communi¬
cations Commission completed its two-year investigation of radio
broadcasting monopoly and made public a 1,300-page report of its
findings", the Committee's Bulletin states. "immediately the radio
industry launched an attack on the report charging inaccuracy and
unfairness. This was the beginning of a struggle between government
and the industry which promises to be long and bitter.
"The report is most critical of the broadcasting networks.
It charges: that the network organizations have the dominant posi¬
tions at every turn in the field of radio broadcasting; that the
heart of the abuses in chain broadcasting is the network contract
with the local station outlets; that the interests of the local
stations have been subordinated to the interests of stations owned
and controlled by the networks; and that as a result of these
practices nearly half of the profit made by the 660 broadcasting
stations found its way into the hands of the two dominant chain
systems. The report cites specific evidence from 10,000 pages of
testimony taken at hearings which extended over a period of more
than six months.
"What attitude should the public take? Its decision
ultimately decides the conflict between industry and the government.
If the public loses confidence in the Communications Commission and
in the report its committee has prepared, the Commission cannot suc¬
cessfully press its claims against the radio companies. On the
other hand if the people come to distrust the industry, it cannot
hope to secure the support necessary to check the Commission in its
drive toward more stringent regulation.
"Ordinarily the people assume that an official report of
a governmental agency such as the Communications Commission is
objective and impartial. Usually it represents a careful and accur¬
ate analysis of the most expert testimony available. In this case,
however, one member of the special committee which prepared the
monopoly report has admitted in a recent appearance before the
Senate Interstate Commerce Committee that certain parts of the
report are in error. His admission casts a shadow over the rest of
the report.
"Ordinarily people are ready to apply a heavy discount
to the defense of any industry against charges made in official
reports. This is particularly true in radio where the broadcasters
exist only by grace of governmental license and where the sworn
- 8 -
10/8/40
testimony of one national chain organization charges another chain
with monopolistic practices. In spite of this evidence, however,
the industry insists that it is trying to maintain traditional
American economic freedom against the restraint of government and
is making a bold and direct appeal to the public for support against
the recommendations of the FCC committee.
"Certainly there is no clear indication of what the public
attitude should be. People generally cannot be expected to read
the 10,000 pages of complicated and technical testimony. Few will
be able to examine the 1,300 page report of the special committee
of the Commission. Most citizens will be dependent on what they
read in the papers or hear. over the air.
"There seems to be no adequate means of putting before
the people all the facts they may need before passing on such an
issue as the conflict between the industry and the Commission.
Obviously the governmental process of reporting is not designed for
public use. It is a legal process which provides evidence only on
the points at issue. It leads to a series of conclusions or rec¬
ommendations which suggest the decision to be made by the officials
charged with responsibility for action. It is not intended to give
the lay public any clear picture of the pros and cons of the dif¬
ferent alternatives presented by the issue. "
xxxxxxxxx
PHILIPS REPORTS ADEQUATE RADIOS ON HAND IN INDIA
In a recent Commerce Department Bulletin is a reference
to the Philips Radio concern from the American Consulate General
at Calcutta which reads:
"Following the change in the political conditions in the
Netherlands, apprehensions were felt in the local market regarding
the availability of stocks of the Dutch Philips receiving sets
manufactured by that company in the Netherlands. The India branch
of the Dutch firm has made the following announcement through the
press in this connection recently:
"'Notice - the recent developments in the European conflict
may give rise to unfounded rumors regarding lack of supplies of
Philips products in the country. We take this opportunity of assur¬
ing all our customers and trade relations that adequate stocks of
Philips radio sets, Philips lamps, valves, radio parts, etc., are
in India, and that arrangements for regular future supolies have
been made. *
"Despite the above statement, it is understood that sup¬
plies of Philips products to the trade are greatly restricted. "
XXXXXXXXXX
- 3
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10/8/40
ESTIMATES MRS. ROOSEVELT'S BROADCAST EARNINGS AT $450,000
The broadcasts of Mrs. Roosevelt have aggregated about
$450,000, according to John T. Flynn in his book, "Country Squire in
the White House" now in its sixth edition. Mrs. Roosevelt's total
earnings, the writer declares, are something near $1,200,000. The
total earnings of the President and his family since going into
the White House, Mr. Flynn estimates, is something over $2,500,000.
"Mrs. Roosevelt's broadcasts bring from $3,000 to $4,000
apiece", a chapter of the book entitled "White House, Inc.", Mr.
Flynn writes. "She has had about 150 broadcasts. She has broad¬
cast for Beauty Rest Mattresses, a shoe manufacturer, a toilet
preparation and others and is now appearing for Sweetheart Soap .
"Her daughter, Mrs. John Boettiger (formerly Mrs. Dahl),
has worked as a member of the staff of Liberty magazine for Bemarr
Macfadden, has written articles and is now writing for a Hearst
paper of which her husband, John Boettiger, is publisher - a job
he got after he married Mrs. Dahl - where she is reported to be
paid $12,000 a year. She attempted to do some broadcasting. An
agent representing her sent around the following notice:
"'Mrs. Anna Roosevelt Dahl, daughter of the President¬
elect, has a charming voice and most engaging personality. She is
willing to appear on any commercial program sponsoring a product
consistent with her public position. * "
"Elliott Roosevelt got $25,000 a year as president and
general manager of the Hearst chain of radio stations. Elliott's
first foray into business was as consultant of the Aeronautical
Chamber of Commerce. It was at a time when the industry was having
a good deal of trouble with the Post Office Department. A bill was
pending before Congress to authorize certain concessions which the
Chamber was interested in, and in the course of the debate Elliott
was denounced as its lobbyist. Later Brigadier General William
Mitchell, former army air chief, made a similar charge. Elliott
denied it. He said that he was employed by the Chamber to organize
and coordinate various aviation companies to put them on their feet.
He was quite young and inexperienced for such an imposing service.
One congressman said he got $25,000 a year, another said it was
only $10,000. However, later William Randolph Hearst wanted to
have four radio- station franchises transferred to him in Texas at
a time when he was lambasting the President. He had to get permis¬
sion of the Communications Commission, appointed by the President.
He employed Elliott to get those transfers. Elliott handled the
job - and with great success. He was later made general manager of
the whole Hearst chain at $25,000 a year. "
xxxxxxxxxx
- 4 -
10/8/40
BMI STOCKHOLDERS RECEIVE ENCOURAGING REPORT
Prior to holding the first annual meeting in New York
City, stockholders of Broadcast Music, Inc. , formed for the pur¬
pose of supplying the radio broadcasting industry with its own
music, have been advised that by the end of this year there will
be available to every licensee of BMI a catalogue of music suf¬
ficient, with the public domain and with music which can be obtain¬
ed from cooperating licensing agencies, to render a full broadcast¬
ing service. This word comes in the annual report of Neville
Miller, a portion of which reads: ■
’’During our first six months of operation, we have placed
in the hands of our subscribers more than two hundred carefully
selected musical compositions of excellent quality, published under
our company’s own imprint, and available in piano and vocal copies
and in orchestral form. We are now on a production schedule of
over one hundred selections a month, the greatest volume of quality
output ever maintained in the publishing industry, and we are sub¬
stantially increasing this rate of production. Moreover, our
company, by concluding agreements with other publishers, has ob¬
tained the performing rights to more than twenty-five thousand
compositions, which will become available to our licensees at an
early date .
”0ur company has not only made a substantial volume of
music available, but it has, by means of radio exploitation, suc¬
ceeded in having a number of compositions on the list of composi¬
tions most frequently performed and on the list of sheet music best
sellers. One composition has already sold in excess of thirty- five
thousand copies and thirty-five hundred orchestrations, and a
steady volume of sales is now being maintained. The volume of our
music used on broadcasting stations generally has shown a steady
increase since the beginning of our ope rations.
’’Needless to say, we greatly appreciate the support which
we have received from the broadcasting industry. The list of our
subscribers has grown from 246 to 346 stations, representing over
80$ of the dollar volume of the broadcasting industry. Even this
figure does not fully indicate the full measure of support which
we have received. Forty-three additional stations have recently
pledged their support but have not yet actually completed the
execution of their contracts. These stations will raise the number
of subscribers to a numerical majority of all stations, and our
stockholders will represent not only in excess of 85$ of the dollar
volume on the industry but also a full cross section of the entire
industry, representative of independent stations, affiliated sta¬
tions and network-owned stations. H
XXXXXXXXXX
- 5 -
ii
10/8/40
HOLLYWOOD'S NEW TELEVISION STATION READY JANUARY 1
Work on what is said to be the world's first station
built exclusively for television is progressing at a rapid pace
and the superstructure on the two-story-and-mezzanine edifice
already has been erected atop 1700 foot Mt. Lee overlooking Holly¬
wood, according to Thomas S. Lee, President of the Don Lee Tele¬
vision System. Approximately 120,000 feet of lumber and innumer¬
able bags of cement are being used in the modern structure, which
will cost approximately $100,000. Fbrmal opening date will be
about January 1.
Novel features of the plant will be a 25 by 50 foot
swimming pool, which will be the scene of many aquatic telecasts,
and a complete encasement of the building and television stages in
a sheathing of copper. This requires 22,600 feet of this metal,
and is for the purpose of eliminating outside and intra-building
interferences, according to Harry R. Lubcke, Director of Television,
for the network.
The building will have one television stage 60 by 100
feet and another 25 by 45 feet with monitor rooms in addition to
complete office facilities, transmitter room, and a special experi¬
mental laboratory, as well as scenery storage rooms, makeup room,
lounge viewing room, performers' lounge and other theatrical facil¬
ities. W6XA0's new home will be 31 feet high and have an overall
measurement of 100 by 100. From Franklin Avenue and Beachwood it
may be reached by gcring up Beachwood, to Ledgewood, to Deronda, to
Mulholland Highway. From the Mulholland Highway junction the Mt.
Lee Highway leads over a route of scenic beauty. This new road has
been paved and fenced with white guard rails to the summit.
A special ventilating system and intricate electrical
system for the five television cameras and an airplane beacon atop
the building not far from the two 150 foot television antennas will
be other features of W6XA0. (The telecasting unit now has three
cameras and two orthicon cameras are on order from New Jersey. )
New rantee of W6XA0 will be 60 miles.
W6XA0 went on the air December 23, 1931, and has telecast
more than 6,000 hours of entertainment in 2,500 separate programs
to 500 receivers within a radius of 30 miles of the present trans¬
mitter located at 1076 West Seventh Street. Station is now off the
air to afford technicians an opportunity to make improvements in
the equipment and adapt the telecasting band to new Channel No. 1.
XXXXXXXXXX
The Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc., Passaic, N.J.,
have been authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to
operate a 50 watt television transmitter at Passaic on the No. 2
television channel in order to make field test measurements.
XXXXXXXXX
- 6 -
10/8/40
ROCKEFELLER TO INCLUDE RADIO IN CULTURAL WORK
Nelson A. Rockefeller, who has been appointed Coordinator
of Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics
by President Roosevelt, is expected to appoint some outstanding
radio adviser, as well as from the newspaper and motion picture
fields. Just what Mr. Rockefeller contemplates along radio lines
is not known at this writing. Up to now, all international and
short-wave radio has cleared through the State Department and the
Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
xxxxxxxxxxx
MORE FM PERMITS SOUGHT
Among those applying last week for construction permits
for new high frequency broadcast stations at the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission were William F. Maag, Jr. , Youngstown, Ohio,
43.500 kc. ; WCAU Broadcasting Co., Philadelphia, Pa., 44,300 kilo¬
cycles; Tom M. Bryan, Miami, Florida, 44,500 kilocycles and the
National Life and Accident Insurance Co., of Nashville, Tenn.,
44.500 kilocycles.
XXXXXXXX
NAVY DAY RECEIVING SET COMPETITION
The annual radiotelegraph receiving competition, conduct¬
ed by the American Radio Relay League in West Hartford, Conn., will
be held on Navy Day, October 27, it was announced by the Chief of
Naval Operations.
Radio amateurs throughout the United States and its pos¬
sessions are invited to participate, and to send to the League
copies of the message as received. Results will be forwarded to
the Chief of Naval Operations, and letters of appreciation will be
sent to those persons who submit perfect copies of the broadcast.
Transmission will be at the rate of approximately 25
words per minute, and will be preceded by a five-minute continuous
"CQ,!t call. The broadcast from Washington is set for 9 P.M. , simul¬
taneously on 4045 and 8090 kilocycles, call letters N'AA.
XXXXXXXXXX
Rene Canizares, of Havana, has received permission from
the Federal Communications Commission to transmit sports from New
York to Station CMCK, Havana, via R. C. A. Communications, Inc.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 7 -
10/8/40
ASCA? BLITZER APPARENTLY UNWORRIED
Someone calling on E. C. Mills, Chairman of the Admini¬
strative Committee of the American Society of Composers in New York
last week, asked him if he was apprehensive with regard to the radio
music battle now being waged.
•'Listen”, Mr. Mills replied, "I'm not going fishing this
afternoon, and I am just as much worried about the outcome of the
fight with the broadcasters as I am about the fish I'm not going
to catch this afternoon. "
XXXXXXXXXX
CHICAGO POLICE TRY FM ON LARGE SCALE
The Federal Communications Commission has authorized the
Chicago Police Department to construct 200 new experimental Class 2
municipal police stations to conduct an experimental program of
research in connection with the determination of the practicability
of frequency modulation as applied to the police service. The fre¬
quencies assigned are 35,100, 35,200 kc., with 30 watts power.
Authority has also been granted to communicate as munici¬
pal police stations in the emergency service on an experimental
basis subject to the condition that no interference is caused to
stations operating on these frequencies or adjacent frequencies.
xxxxxxxx
RADIO ENGINEERS' CONVENTION
Discussions of frequency modulation, as veil as televi¬
sion, promise to feature the annual Fall Convention of the Institute
of Radio Engineers at Rochester, N. Y. , November 11-13. The Roch¬
ester section of I.R.E. is now preparing for an interesting pro¬
gram, including many prominent speakers and the reading of technical
papers. The usual exhibit of radio components also will be held
at the Sagamore Hotel.
The Rochester convention will be in charge of the Insti¬
tute's Rochester section and Virgil M. Graham, Assistant Director
of the RMA Engineering Department.
X X X X X X X X X
- 8 -
10/8/40
TRADE NOTES
General Electric Company employees who are called for
military service or those who voluntarily enlist for the 12 months’
training period, will receive a full month’s pay and be granted a
year's leave of absence. At the expiration of military service,
employees will be restored to their former positions or to posi¬
tions of like seniority, status and pay, unless circumstances make
it impossible or unreasonable to do so.
Ashton Dunn, Superintendent of Training in the Personnel
Division of the National Broadcasting Company, has been appointed
Personnel Manager. Mr. Dunn came to NBC, June 1, 1937, from R. H.
Macy & Co., where from 1931 to 1937 he was in the Training Depart¬
ment, becoming Assistant Director of Executive Placement.
The Freed F&dio Corporation has prepared a booklet "The
ABC of FM" putting into words of one syllable the story of fre¬
quency modulation. The booklet was prepared by the Freed-Eisemann
technical and research department.
The St. Louis Public Service Co. , has been granted a
construction permit by the Federal Communications Commission for a
new special emergency station, 31460 kilocycles, 250 watts power
and authority to operate by remote control. The company was also
granted construction permit for 21 new portable-mobile units to
become part of their special emergency system, frequency 31460
kilocycles, 15 watts.
C-uy C. Hickok, Director of the International Division
of the National Broadcasting Company has left by Clipper ship for
an extensive combination business and pleasure trip to South
America. He will visit the major South American countries and
make stopovers in Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Aries.,
La Paz, Lima and Quito. He will return to Miami via Cristobal on
October 31st.
Ten scholarships in radio training, offered jointly by
the WLW Educational Department and the Radio Deps.rtment of the
Cincinnati College of Music, have been msde available. The scholar¬
ships are each valued at SlOO, and will entitle the recipient to
one year's tuition in residence at the college in three out of four
radio courses. The courses are: radio production, radio inter¬
pretation (acting), radio announcing and radio sound effects
engineering.
9
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10/8/40
Almost 15,000 requests were received last week on the
giveaways offered on the Elliott Roosevelt broadcasts, Station MCA
reports. Capt . Roosevelt, incidentally, finished his MCA and net¬
work series this week as he begins to take up active duty with the
Army Air Corps in connection with the Government defense program.
Station WKIP , Poughkeepsie, N.Y., became affiliated with
the Blue Network of the National Broadcasting Company on October
6th. This makes 200 affiliates that NBC has and three more sta¬
tions will be added by January 1.
"Elements of Acoustical Engineering" it the title of a
book by Harry F. Olson, E.E., Ph. D. , Director of Acoustical
Research, RCA Manufacturing Company and Lecturer in Electrical
Engineering at Columbia University. The price is $6.00, and the
publishers, D. Van Nostrand, Inc., 250 Fourth Avenue, New York City.
Arthur A. Brandt, who for three years has been associated
with the advertising and promotional activities in connection with
General Electric radio, has been appointed General Sales Manager
for G-E radio and television receivers with headquarters in Bridge¬
port, Conn.
The State University of Iowa has announced plans to hold
the First Annual Iowa Radio Conference in Iowa City on October 17,
18, and 19th. While the conference is designed primarily for
broadcasters in Iowa, it will deal with problems common to all
radio and will be of interest to educators and broadcasters alike.
XXXXXXXX
STATIONS SEEK MORE POWER
Requesting the facilities of KGGF, Coffeyville, Kans. ,
WNAD, Norman, Okla. , and KFEQ, St. Joseph, Mo. , as proposed by the
North American Regional Agreement, Station KMBC seeks to change
its frequency from 950 to 690 kilocycles, and to increase power
from 5 to 50 kilowatts.
Station KYA, Hearst-owned, in San Francisco, has asked
to be put on the frequency of 560 kilocycles and for an increase
to 5 kilowatt power.
xxxxxxxxxx
10 -
10/8/40
RCA STANDS BY EMPLOYEES ENTERING SERVICE
All employees of the Radio Corporation of America and its
subsidiaries, of six months or more standing, who may be called or
who may volunteer for service in the armed forces of the United
States, will be paid the difference between what they earn in their
last month of employment and what they receive for their first
month's service.
This announcement was made by David Sarnoff, President of
RCA, following the regular meeting of the corporation's Board of
Directors.
The Directors also decided, Mr. Sarnoff said, that, in
addition to all other rights and privileges to be provided by the
corporation under the Selective Service Act, the corporation will
continue in force for one year, the group life insurance of those
who may be called or who may volunteer for service. The RCA will
pay the full premium, including the employee's portion.
Besides employees of the Radio Corporation of America,
these provisions will apply to employees of the National Broadcast¬
ing Company, RCA Manufacturing Company, R. C.A. Communications, Inc.,
Radiomarine Corporation of America and RCA Institutes, Inc.
xxxxxxxxx
m . w
WCR TELEVISION STATION TO BE ON AIR IN 9 MONTHS
The new WOR television station will be on the air within
six to nine months. This was the announcement made recently by
J. R. Poppele, Chief Engineer of WOR, following the news from
Washington that the Federal Communications Commission had formally
confirmed the grant of a television license to the Bamberger Broad¬
casting Service, Inc., operatcrs of WOR.
Tests to determine the transmitter site will be started
immediately. A studio will be constructed at 1440 Broadway, where
WOR's New York broadcasting studios are located. An auxiliary
television studio will orobably also be built at the transmitter
point.
The WOR television station, the fourth in the Metropoli¬
tan area, will operate on Channel Number 6 (92-102 megacycles). A
daily program service, offering two hours of telecasts in the after¬
noon and two hours in the evening, is planned. An increase in
operating hours will depend largely upon public acceptance.
A minimum of one hundred thousand dollars has been set
aside by WOR for the initial television operations, Mr. Poppele
stated. An extensive research and experimentation in the techni¬
cal, program and production problems of the new medium will be
carried on.
XXXXXXXXX
- 11 -
i
10/8/40
NEW JOB CREATED FOR JOHN ROYAL
John Royal, for many years Vice-President in Charge of
Programs, at the National Broadcasting Company, has been appointed
to a newly created position - Vice-President in charge of plans
having to do with New Activities and Developments in Broadcasting
as they relate to promotional, programming and commercial problems.
Thus John will have about the longest title of any of the numerous
NBC Vice-Presidents.
It is explained that the position will combine under one
direction, necessary developmental work in programming and general
public service in the fields of Television, Frequency Modulation,
Facsimile and Short Wave broadcasting.
Mr. Royal ls former position, it was stated, would be
filled in the near future.
j XXXXXXXXXX
G.E. TAKES OVER COMPLETE OPERATION OF WGY
General Electric has taken over the complete operation of
WGY, popular 50-kilowatt broadcasting station established in
Schenectady more than 18 years ago, it has been announced by
Robert S. Peare, Manager of Broadcasting and Publicity for the
company. Since 1931 this station has been operated by the National
Broadcasting Company.
Kolin Hager, manager of the station since its inaugura¬
tion in February, 1922, with the exception of two years, will con¬
tinue as manager. Under the new arrangement WGY will be affiliated
with the National Broadcasting Company and will continue to utilize
the red network.
The technical operations of the station will continue
under the direction of another pioneer in the art, W. J. Purcell.
When WGY was started in 1922, it used but 1500 watts of
power. This was soon increased to 500 watts. In 1924 the General
Electric Company completed the construction of a great transmitter
laboratory on a 54-acre plot at South Schenectady and the WGY
transmitter was moved from within the Schenectady factory to the
new location.
XXXXXXXXXX
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
)C
ISSUE OF OCTOBER 11, 1940
Young Rockefeller Makes First Washington Speech . 8
RCA Gets $7, 000,000 War Order . 4
Elliott Still Target; Income Was $76,000 . 4
Great Lakes Radiophone Rates Found Unreasonable . . . 5
Allied Printing Trades Speech Comeback . 5
Cautions Willkie To Watch Step On Radio . 6
German Television Pioneer Dies . 6
To Determine FM Sky-Wave Interference . 7
Coast Guard Radiomen Class . ,7
BBC Now Broadcasts News In Cypriot . 7
Trade Notes . 8
Four Stations On 780 KC Boosted . 9
Trammell Continues NBC Changes . 10
Gallup Poll Favors Red Ban . 10
Former FCC Counsel To Practice Law . 11
Spanish Concern Asks Government Recognition . 11
Samoff Foresees Unprecedented Scientific Advances . 11
No. 1873
YOUNG ROCKEFELLER MAKES FIRST WASHINGTON SPEECH
Despite the report that Nelson A. Rockefeller, Presi¬
dent of Rockefeller Center and Coordinator of Latin American
Economic and Cultural Problems of the National Defense Commission
would inaugurate an elaborate exchange of short-wave radio pro¬
grams between the United States and our neighbors to the South,
only casual mention of radio was made when Mr. Rockefeller, in
his maiden speech in Washington addressed the National Press Club
Wednesday. Because his talk was "off the record", it is not per¬
missible to tell what he said.
Someone observed after hearing the address that evi¬
dently what Mr. Rockefeller proposed to do was largely a dupli¬
cation of what is already being done by the State and Commerce
Departments. It seemed to be the impression that the field Mr.
Rockefeller was entering was already well covered by the Govern¬
ment.
Among those at the guest table were Dr. Stanley K.
Hornbeck, Advisor on Political Relations in the State Department;
Mr. Ben M. Cherrington, Chief of the Division of Cultural Rela¬
tions of the State Department, and Michael J. McDermott, genial
Chief of the State Department Press Division. There were also
officials from the Commerce Department. This turnout caused Mr.
Rockefeller to laughingly remark that he didn’t know that all of
the other cultural experts in Washington would be there to listen
to him. Few members of the Latin- American Diplomatic Corps
were present. About 300 attended the luncheon.
A critic of the Administration professed to see a
political angle in Mr. Rockefeller’ s present assignment.
"Election isn’t far off", he remarked. "Lining up a
man with a big and influential name like Rockefeller just at this
time when the Administration is out seeking the votes of all
classes and is particularly desirous of those of the conservative
element, would be the same as taking on somebody like Edsel Ford
during the campaign. I think young Mr. Rockefeller was brought in
by the President more or less as political window-dressing."
Nevertheless, Mr. Rockefeller proved himself an inter¬
esting and capable speaker, showed excellent judgment in making his
talk short, and what he had to say apparently got over in good
shape. In appearance young Rockefeller reminded those of the
radio industry of Philip Loucks, former secretary of the National
Association of Broadcasters, if Phil were taller and younger.
10/11/40
Mr. Rockefeller, a son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. ,
now 32 years old, obtained his preparatory education at the
Lincoln School of Teachers College in New York, and an A.B. from
Dartmouth. He is a Trustee of the Modern Museum of Art in New
York City, which last Summer featured a series of program of
modem music of Mexico, directed by the famous Mexican conductor,
Carlos Chavez.
Mr. Rockefeller announced Thursday that James W. Young,
Director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, would
serve as Director of the Communications Division on the Coordi¬
nator's staff, in charge of press, radio and motion pictures, Mr.
Young is expected to retain his Commerce Department post. He has
been Director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce since
September, 1939. Mr. Young was born in Covington, Ky. , January 20,
1886, and educated in the public schools of Covington. Beginning
as an office boy in the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Company in
New York, and later stenographer, he finally became a Vice-Presi¬
dent of the company. Later Mr. Young was Chairman of the Board
of the Lane Company in San Francisco. He was Professor of Busi¬
ness History and Advertising in the University of Chicago, 1931-35;
President of the Board of Trustees of the Laboratory of Anthro¬
pology, Santa Fe , N.M. , and past president of the American
Association of Advertising Agencies. Mr. Young was the author of
"Advertising Agency Compensation" , published in 1934, and is
editor of the "Papers of the Association of Advertising Agencies".
Mr. Rockefeller has also appointed John Hay (Jock)
Whitney, socially prominent sportsman to his staff. As a dollar-
a-year man, Whitney will work on motion pictures.
Mr. Rockefeller is scheduled for two coast-to-coast radio
broadcasts to tell the public about the Latin-American work he is
undertaking. On Tuesday, October 15th, he will laud the Pan-
American highway as a means of improving friendly relations
between the Americas when he appears as guest of honor at a din¬
ner of the Auromobile Manufacturers' Association and the Pan-
American Highway Confederation in New York City.
The dinner will be broadcast over the NBC-Blue Network
from 9:35 to 10:00 P.M. , from the Empire Room of the Waldorf-
Astoria Hotel.
Mr. Rockefeller, along with Wendell L. Willkie, Mrs.
Roosevelt, Col. Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy, and others of
prominence, will participate in the New York He raid- Tribune Forum
on current problems to be held in New York. His speech on
"Coordinating the Culture of the Americas" will be carried by
the Blue Network of the National Broadcasting Company in the ses¬
sion beginning at 2 o’clock Wednesday afternoon, October 23.
Mr. Winthrop Rockefeller, a brother, will speak at the morning
session of the Forum that day on "Aviation Training for the
Young. "
XXXXXXXXXX
- 3 -
10/11/40
RCA GETS $7, 000,000 WAR ORDER
The Radio Corporation of America Thursday received an
order for $7,605,773 for radio receivers from the War Department.
The Philco Corporation of Philadelphia, a $671,000 order for sets.
William S. Knudsen, National Defense Commissioner in
charge of production, said that contracts have been signed in
connection with the Defense Program to a total of $8,000,000,000.
A total of $4,000,000,000 in appropriations or contract authori¬
zations remains to be contracted for and the completion of this
is expected to be by November 1st.
xxxxxxxxx
ELLIOTT STILL TARGET; INCOME WAS $76,000
The following exchange took place between Representa¬
tive John C. Schafer (R. ), of Wisconsin, and Speaker Sam Rayburn
in the House of Representatives:
"Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the
House for 1 minute. "
"Is there objection?" There was no objection.
"Mr. Speaker, I wish to announce to the Members of
the House and to the country that our distinguished
colleague the gentleman from New York, Hon. Hamilton
Fish, this evening at 10:30 o'clock p.m. , over a
hook-up of the National Broadcasting System, will
discuss a very interesting subject, Conscription
and Capt. Elliott Roosevelt. " (Laughter) "If, how¬
ever, before 10:30 this evening Capt. Elliott Roose¬
velt is made a general in charge of the Procurement
Division of the Army Air Corps the gentleman from
New York will have to discuss the subject, Conscrip¬
tion and Gen. Elliott Roosevelt. " (Laughter and
applause ) .
According to a newspaper dispatch from Fort Worth, the
books of the Texas State Network showed that Elliott Roosevelt
gave up an annual income of at Deast $76,000 to serve in the Army.
G. T. Stanley, Treasurer of the network of which young Roosevelt
was President, organizer and principal stockholder, said that
Elliott, as Managing Director, received $24,000 a year in salary.
The salary was increased by slightly more than $1,000 a week which
he received from a tooth-powder company for weekly comment pro¬
grams.
Mrs. Ruth Roosevelt, Elliott’s wife, is now President of
the Texas State Network and has been designated his representa¬
tive in operation of his radio properties and also to represent
him as chief stock-holder.
XXXXXXXX ~ 4 -
Mr. Schafer:
The Speaker:
Mr. Schafer:
10/11/40
GREAT LAKES RADIOPHONE RATES FOUND UNREASONABLE
The rate schedules of Lorain County (Ohio) Radio Corp. ,
consisting of a $25 a month ready-to-serve charge per ship plus
charges of 75 cents to $1.00 for each 3-minute message and another
rate of $1.50 per message for occasional users of radiotelephone
service between ships on the Great Lakes and Lorain Corporation
stations at Lorain, Ohio; Duluth, Minn., and Port Washington,
Wis., have been found unreasonable by the Federal Communications
Commission. These cases also involved the rates and practices
of Thorne Donnelley, doing business as Donnelley Radio Telephone
Company, for like service through his station at Lake Bluff, Ill.
The Commission also cited certain illegal practices of both
carriers.
In the matter of the Lorain Corporation, the Commission
finds the charging of a higher rate for a call to or from a sta¬
tion on a ship which does not contract to pay the Lorain ready-
to-serve charge than for a like call to or from a station on a
subscribing ship is an unjust discrimination against persons
calling to or from ship stations on non- subscriber ships and
declares the suspended Lorain tariffs unlawful.
With respect to Lorain and Donnelley radiotelephone
service jointly, the Commission holds with reference to the former
•'The ready-to-serve charge unjustly discriminates
against the small user, against the user who has no need for
Lorain inspection service, and against the user equipped with
ship station equipment which Lorain is not competent to inspect,
and is unjust and unreasonable and therefore unlawful. "
XXXXXXXXXX
ALLIED PRINTING TRADES SPEECH COMEBACK
A subscriber writes:
"It is too bad that you can't make facetious comments
after your articles, because it would have been so nice for you
to have said after the first page article in the September 24th
issue, wherein John Haggerty, President of the International
Allied Printing Trades Association set forth his blast, that you
had heard the story so many times before: from the stage coach
drivers when they saw the railroads coming, and the livery stable
owners when they saw the automobile come.
"Think of the poor carriage, whip and harness manu¬
facturers that the automobiles put out of business.
"They should have been stopped! "
XXXXXXXX
- 5 -
J
10/11/40
CAUTIONS WILLKIE TO WATCH STEP ON RADIO
Alfred M. Landon, former Republican candidate for
President, gives the following radio advice to Wendell Willkie
in the current issue of Look Magazine :
"Much of the present campaign will be fought by radio.
And, though he (Mr. Willkie) is an able speaker, Willkie must
remember that he is matched against one of the most effective
radio broadcasters of all times. This is important because today
thousands of voters form their judgments from the speeches that
come from the loudspeakers and from the newsreels. Once the
campaign is under way, speech follows speech, appearance follows
appearance, problem follows problem - all under constantly mount¬
ing tension. Yet there can be no letdown in his addresses.
"President Roosevelt* s clever use of radio makes him a
strong campaigner. As he speaks into a microphone, he realizes
that 30 million people are judging him not especially by what he
says but by how he says it. The President is a natural political
actor. He is most effective when dramatizing his own personality.
Much of his life has been spent in political activity and he has
the self-confidence that comes to a veteran of the spotlight.
He is a great showman. Willkie must match this dramatic appeal
with his own brand of showmanship; he must not hesitate to capital¬
ize on his own colorful, dynamic personality. "
XXXXXXXX
GERMAN TELEVISION PIONEER DIES
Dr. Paul Nipkow, pioneer in the field of radio television
died in Berlin recently, shortly after celebrating his eightieth
birthday.
Dr. Nipkow patented an invention which he described as
an "electrical telescope" as early as 1884, but was unable to pay
the costs of extending the patent. It was only six years ago
that Dr. Nipkow finally gained public recognition and was made
Honorary President of the newly founded German Television Society.
Although the "Nipkow Disk" has been superseded in recent
years by other devices, it played an essential part in all the
early developments of television.
XXXXXXXXX
6
■
10/11/40
TO DETERMINE FM SKY-WAVE INTERFERENCE
Authority has been granted Station W9XA in Kansas City,
Mo. , by the Federal Communications Commission to operate on a
frequency of 26,300 kilocycles, using a maximum power of 1000
watts, special emission (FM) in cooperation with the licensee of
high frequency broadcast station W2XJI, for a period not to ex¬
ceed 30 days, to conduct and determine the extent of mutual sky-
wave interference existing between two stations operating with
1 kilowatt on 26300 kilocycles, employing frequency modulation,
and to determine to what field strength contour of the desired
station the interfering station whose transmissions are received
via sky-wave will interfere with program reception of the desired
station in its own coverage area.
XXXXXXXX
COAST G-UARD RADIOMEN CLASS
Prospective Coast Guard radiomen have assembled at
Fort Trumbull Training Station, New London, Conn. , for intensive
training in the operation of the radio equipment in use in the
Service. Classes will include not only training in code but
will cover all the operating procedure encountered in the handling
of routine and emergency messages.
This class is one of those which is assembled at Fort
Trumbull every 3 months for the purpose of maintaining the supply
of radiomen for the Service. Each class is composed of about 50
students. The Coast G-uard headquarters is particularly desirous
at this time to maintain the full quota of radiomen and invites
applications from men desirous of receiving radio training.
XXXXXXXX
BBC NOW BROADCASTS NEWS IN CYPRIOT
One of the most remarkable developments of the war has
been the increase in the foreign language broadcasts of the Europ¬
ean short-wave stations. For instance, since September 16, news
in Cypriot has been a daily feature of the British Broadcasting
Corporation’s Overseas Service. The bulletin, which follows im¬
mediately upon the evening bulletin in Greek, is broadcast at
1:45 P.M. , *EST, on the frequency of GSC (9.58 me., 31.32 meters).
The BBC is now broadcasting every day fifty-five news
bulletins in twenty- two languages other than English, Welsh, and
Gaelic. In addition, the Overseas Service includes regular trans¬
missions in Maltese and Burmese.
XXXXXXXX
- 7 -
10/11/40
: : TRADE NOTES
The radio industry showered congratulations on Powel
Crosley, Jr. , owner of the Cincinnati Baseball Reds winning the
World's championship. It was the first World Series to go to
Cincinnati in 21 years and Powel was hailed as a conquering hero.
Charles E. Wilson, President of the General Electric
Company, has announced a $50,000,000 expansion program for
National Defense. This will include new facilities for manu¬
facturing radio transmitters and receivers for the Army and Navy
Signal Corps. - — -
What is described as a radical new treatment of the
acoustical problem presented by record surface and mechanical
noises present in all phonographs, the "Tone Guard", has been
developed by RCA engineers at Camden, and incorporated in the new
RCA Victrola home entertainment instruments. It is a simple
system of grooved wells around the inside edge of the phonograph
compartment directly beneath the lid. It does not attempt to
block out extraneous sounds, but to capture them. It is actually
a tuned acoustical filter.
Station WLOF, Orlando, Florida, will become an affil¬
iate of the National Broadcasting Company, October 21, bringing
the total of NBC affiliates announced to date to 204.
The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in its
"World Radio Markets" series, has issued reports on Guatemala,
Ecuador and Paraguay.
An application has been made by Station WTMA at
Charleston, S.c. , to change its frequency from 1210 to 1220 kilo¬
cycles and to increase power to 1 KW.
The first two-way amateur radio television circuit in
New York City has been set up by the W2USA Radio Club between
Club headquarters in the Communications Building at the New York
World's Fair, and the top floor of the 40-story Daily News build¬
ing eight miles away in Manhattan. The installation comprises
camera and receiving equipment at each studio so that each opera¬
tor can see and be seen, hear and be heard.
- 8 -
I
10/11/40
Hygrade Sylvania Corporation - Eight months ended on
Aug. 31: Net profit, $548,716, equal, after dividends on the
preferred stock, to $2.21 a share on the outstanding common stock.
R. C. A.
August gross
Net income
8 months1 gross
Net income
Communications - August and eight months:
1940 1939
$610,225
112, 254
5,067,235
1,005,775
$ 467,747
55, 632
3,601,035
288,918
Radiomarine Corporation - August and eight months.
August gross
Net income
8 months’ gross
Net income
$ 74,696
14,265
604, 536
132,871
81,607
13,206
603, 629
93,015
The colony of Lourenco Marques in Portuguese East
Africa offers a small but steady demand for radio receivers, the
American Consul advises. The principal American and foreign radio
manufacturers are represented by local agents at Lourenco Marques
and Beira. According to latest official statistics, 2,910 receiv¬
ing sets are registered for license purposes. Of this number a
Dutch product leads with 743 sets, two American makes are next
with 396 and 292 sets, respectively, a British produce (His
Master's Voice) isfourth with 278 sets, and another American make
is fifth with 246 sets.
XXXXXXXXXXX
FOUR STATIONS ON 780 KC BOOSTED
Four stations on 780 kilocycles, in widely reported
parts of the country - KOHL, Billings, Mont., WEAN, Providence,
R. I., WTAR, in Norfolk, Va. , and KECA, Los Angeles, have been
authorized to increase their present power of 1 KW to 5 KW,
according to the Federal Communications Commission.
XXXXXXXX
In July 1940, licenses issued to radio listeners
in Switzerland numbered 4,726, bringing the total number of
licensed receiving sets in that country to 611,307, the American
Consulate General at Zurich reports.
XXXXXXXX
9
10/11/40
TRAMMELL CONTINUES NBC CHANCES
In a general NBC shakeup by Niles Trammell, new Presi¬
dent, Sidney N. Strotz, formerly in charge of the Central Divi¬
sion at Chicago, succeeds John Royal as Vice-President in Charge
of Programs. Harry C. Kopf, Sales Manager in Chicago, will suc¬
ceed Mr. Stroti.
Frank E. Mason will relinquish his supervision of the
International Short Wave Department to concentrate on his duties
as Vice President in charge of the Information Department. L. P.
Yandell, who formerly handled commercial short wave international
broadcasting, has been appointed Manager of the International
Short Wave Department. Clayland Morgan, formerly Assistant to
the President in Charge of Public Relations, becomes Director
of Institutional Promotional.
John Royal, as previously stated, now heads the newly
created post of New Activities and Developments in Broadcasting.
xxxxxxxx
GALLUP POLL FAVORS RED BAN
In this vote, a Gallup Poll indicated thumbs down on
allowing Reds to broadcast:
"Should Communist party candidates be allowed the same
amount of time on the radio as the Democratic and Republican
candidates ?"
Yes . 29$
No . 71$
"Do you think Communist party candidates should be
allowed any time on the radio?"
Yes . 37$
No . 63$
"Should Communist party candidates be allowed the same
amount of free time on the radio as the Democratic and Republican
candidates ? "
Yes . 25$
No . 75$
"Do you think Communist party candidates should be
allowed any free time on the radio?"
Yes . 31$
No . 69$
xxxxxxxxxx
10 -
f r
10/11/40
FORMER FCC COUNSEL TO PRACTICE LAW
Former Assistant General Counsel George B. Porter,
who resigned on July 31 last, terminated his pay-roll status
with the Commission on October 7th, and is now engaged in the
private practice of law in Washington, D. C.
Since creation of the Commission in 1934, Mr. Porter
has been in charge of legal matters affecting broadcasting.
Before that time he was Acting General Counsel of the Federal
Radio Commission, which he joined in 1931.
Mr. Porter is associated with A. G. Haley under the
firm name of Porter and Haley.
XXXXXXXXXX
SPANISH CONCERN ASKS GOVERNMENT RECOGNITION
"Marconi Espanola, S.A. ”, a Spanish radio concern in
Madrid, which has been manufacturing under license from the
Marconi Corp. certain of its products and marketing imported
goods of the parent concern, has applied to the Government of
Spain for permission to be considered as a corporation of national
interest, the American Commercial Attache advises.
It is estimated that annual production will be 1,000
transmitting tubes of various types, 100,000 receiving tubes, and
50,000 radio receiving sets, which will be progressively increased
so that by the end of 6 years there may be manufactured annually
3,000 transmitting tubes, 1,000,000 receiving tubes, and 100,000
receiving sets.
xxxxxxxxxxx
SARNOFF FORESEES UNPRECEDENTED SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES
Looking ahead, David Sarnoff, President of the Radio
Corporation of America, said at the American Life Convention in
Chicago, that the scientific and industrial advances of the next
fifty years will pale those of the past into insignificance. He
pointed to the release of atomic power through isolation of
Uranium 235, and to the electron microscope, a product of radio
research, as sign-posts to new vistas of civilization. As the
result, coming generations, he believes, will dwell in a new
economy of abundance; a new society will be born.
"The troubled state of the world today", continued Mr.
Sarnoff, "represents a challenge to clear thinking. Scientists
have accepted this challenge, and mankind will benefit from their
vision and courage. "
XXXXXXXXXXX
- 11 -
> Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
U y n p [ -i jr i 1 Q A j
yy ! J - H41
INDEX TO ISSUE OF OCTOBER 15, 1940
Tobey Finally Forces Brown To Quit . 2
FCC Charged With Favoring President . 5
Wage And Hour Executive Employees' Regulations . 7
No Further Extension Of Operator Citizenship Proof . 8
Claim Consuls Promote Fascism Here Through Radio . 9
Big Advertisers Continually Increasing Radio Time . 10
Radio Performers' Pay Row Compromised . 11
Defense Speeds Up And Expands RCA . 11
Ritter RCA Manufacturing V-P . 12
WMCA To Aid Registration . 12
Our S. W. Cheers English In Blackout . 12
No. 1274
October 15, 1940.
TOBEY FINALLY FORCES BROWN TO QUIT
Col. Thad H. Brown, whose renomination as a member of
the Federal Communications Commission has been blocked for four
months by Senator Charles W. Tobey ( R. ) , of New Hampshire, in the
Senate Interstate Commerce Committee, yesterday (October 14) sub¬
mitted his resignation to President Roosevelt.
The renomination for a 7-year term was submitted to the
Senate on June 5th. Senator Tobey, as a member of the Interstate
Commerce Committee, conducted a virtual one-man Investigation of
Colonel Brown's qualifications. The inquiry ranged from an expose
of a New York night club party to the findings of the FCC Monopoly
Committee, of which Colonel Brown was Chairman.
During the course of the Senate hearings, sensational
charged were made against the Radio Corooration of America and the
Columbia Broadcasting System, which ecliosed the case of Colonel
Brown so completely that some days he didn't even attend the ses¬
sions. After exploding one bomb-shell after another, Senator Tobey
wound up by introducing a resolution in the Senate calling for a
Congressional investigation not only of the entire radio industry
but also throwing a brick at the Federal Communications Commission,
demanding that it too be investigated. Furthermore, Senator Tobey
demanded that members of the FCC list for public record the "gifts,
favors and other emoluments" they have received from the radio
companies.
When the Senate Committee finally got back to the consider¬
ation of Colonel Brown's case, it was evidently their intention to
recommend confirming him. They had the votes but Senator Tobey, in
wrath, defied them, shouting, it is reported, that if the Committee
did this, he would take the matter straight to the floor of the
Senate "and raise hell". The Senator was said to have declared that
he had enough new evidence against Colonel Brown and the radio
industry to talk for sixteen hours.
And there the matter rested. After a month or so, someone
asked Senator Burton K. Wheeler, of Montana, Chairman of the Com¬
mittee, when the case would again be taken up, and he replied, "Oh,
I think sometime in 1941. "
It was believed that Colonel Brown had the personal back¬
ing of ex-C-overnor James Cox, of Ohio, the former presidential
running mate of President Roosevelt, and that if this had not been
the case, the President would himself have withdrawn the nomination
in the face of Senator Tobey ' s bitter opposition.
- 2 -
10/15/40
A comparatively minor thing minor thing - the allegation
that Colonel Brown did not tell the truth when asked about a party
several Communications Commissioners attended in New York in 1939 -
was the beginning of a series of events which seemed to arouse the
particular indignation of Senator Tobey. The incident was first
brought into the hearing as follows:
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Brown.
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Brown .
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Brown.
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Brown.
It has been reported that an entertainment took
place in a certain "hot spot" in New York City, and
it has been charged that members of the Federal Com¬
munications Commission were present; that they got
into a drunken brawl; and in the brawl some woman
was hurt, her arm twisted. * * * * * Were you there?
I do not know what occasion you are referring to.
I will be very definite. Do you know of any occa¬
sion when an incident like that took olace ?
No, sir; I know of no such incident.
Were you personally present when a woman cried out,
and certain members of the Commission were present,
and there was a drunken brawl, and in the brawl some
woman was hurt, her arm twisted? I do not know
whether it was the Commissioners who were giving the
entertainment or who it was.
I know of no such episode.
You have no episode in mind where you were present
when an incident like that took place?
That is correct, sir.
Colonel Brown later, however, admitted that he had been
to a party at the Diamond Horseshoe. Whereupon this exchange
followed:
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Brown.
The Chairman.
Mr. Brown.
Were there any women present?
I do not think so Senator.
Was it a stag party?
Yes .
At a subsequent hearing there was a further inquiry on
the part of the investigator:
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Brown.
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Brown.
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Brown.
At this Diamond Horseshoe party you told us about
last week, your glasses were knocked off by a lady,
were they not, and I understand you twisted a lady’s
arm?
I know of no such incident, sir.
You stand by that ?
Yes.
Is it true that Commissioner Case picked up your
glasses and found them in need of repair?
I do not remember any such incident.
Later, however. Commissioner T.A.M. Craven, who was in
the club that night along with Commissioner Case and others, but
not in Colonel Brown's immediate party, refuted the latter’s state¬
ments. When called to the stand, Commander Craven testified:
- 3 -
10/15/40
Mr. Craven.
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Craven.
Senator Tobey.
Mr. Craven.
* * * I heard a discussion, apparently coming from
the direction where Mr. Brown was sitting; and I
noticed that, as a result of that, he was holding
the lady's wrist and I was holding it so as to
prevent her from - apparently - attacking him in
some form; because she seemed to be rather angry,
as a result of the discussion. I did not think
much of the incident, at all; it quickly subsided.
Later on, Governor Case and I thought we had better
go back to our hotel, and we asked Commissioner
Brown if he wanted to go with us, which he did; and
we walked back to the hotel. His glasses were on
the floor, and I think they were returned the next
day.
I did not consider the incident in any way unmoral -
from the standpoint of the characterizations that
have been given to it. I did not see anything un¬
moral about it, and I passed it off. As a matter of
fact, I was rather surprised when I heard of its
characterization on the floor of the House, on our
return. I saw nothing unmoral about it.
Did you hear a noise that sounded like a slap?
Yes; I heard a noise that sounded like a slap, al¬
though I did not see a slap.
And when youleoked up, Commissioner Brown had lost
his spectacles and was holding the wrist of a woman
who appeared to be angry?
Yes. There was nothing that looked like twisting
the woman's arm or hurting her in any way.
Commander Craven had previously told of Colonel Brown
bringing a woman over to his table and introducing her. Senator
Tobey commented on the fact that although Colonel Brown a week
before had denied any women were present, later admitted there was
one at his table "and I might have grabbed her wrist to keep her
away from me".
Addressing Colonel Brown, Senator Tobey declared, "The
fact remains that you deliberately lied to this Committee last
week. " Whereupon Senator Tobey concluded as follows:
"So this gentleman makes a statement to the Committee
which is false testimony, beyond peradventure ; and that can be con¬
firmed by other witnesses, if necessary.
"Yet he comes before us, asking this Committee to confirm
him for 7 years more as a Commissioner of the Federal Communications
Commission - a man who, in my judgment, has perjured himself, who
is guilty of conduct in a public place not becoming to any gentle¬
man, least of all a Federal Communications Commissioner, and who at
that place brought over with him a lady whom he does not now rem¬
ember, and who slapped him, and his glasses were broken; and now he
says he remembers nothing about it.
"I say, if there is nothing more, that this man is not
worthy to be confirmed, beyond peradventure. The Scripture says
that out of their own mouths they condemn themselves; and I say to
you (Brown) that out of your own mouth you have condemned yourself
before this Committee. "
XXXXXXXXXX
4
10/15/40
FCC CHARGED WITH FAVORING PRESIDENT
That President Roosevelt’s broadcasts have been unduly
favored by the Federal Communications Commission is alleged by
Lawrence Sullivan in a new book, ’’The Dead Hand of Bureaucracy".
"In amazing degree, the FCC has governed broadcasting
policy by the assumption that the decisions of the President should
be held above public criticism", Mr. Sullivan writes. "in no case
have the radio chains made available to opposition speakers the
same hook-ups arranged promptly for the President. When comparable
chain arrangements were requested by opponents of the Roosevelt
court-packing proposal, the broadcasting companies responded they
could not interrupt their commercial schedules save upon the demand
of the President. When circumstances compel the President to speak
in the day hours of small radio audiences, the chains re-broadcast
transcriptions on the crowded night periods, displacing news broad¬
casts with the presidential recordings. Only the President ever
has commanded a short-wave re-broadcast of his speeches in eight
foreign languages. "
Mr. Sullivan declared further that the persistent efforts
in Congress to enact amendments specifically outlawing the FCC’s
assumed powers of censorship have encountered vigorous White House
resistance, with the result that bureaucracy’s domination of broad¬
casting today threatens the great American heritage of freedom of
speech.
The writer said that in addressing a Town Hall luncheon
in New York on April 28, 1938, David Sarnoff, President of the Radio
Corporation of America, traced the growing tendency of indirect
Federal censorship through regulatory powers. "We have but to look
to the autocracies of Europe to see what such governmental control
of broadcasting may mean. When the dictator stands before the
microphone, the citizens are regimented before the loudspeakers. "
"Accumulated protests from the broadcasting industry over
a period of six years have resulted recently in vigorous Congression¬
al demands for amendments curbing the Government's assumed censor¬
ship authority over radio programs. The 1934 revision of the Radio
Act required renewal of broadcasting licenses every three years,
but the Federal Communications Commission then prescribed renewals
every six months. This executive rule gave the FCC a tremendous
leverage for keeping discussion programs in tune with Federal pol¬
icies. At the same time it served to check appeals against all FCC
decisions. As one radio station operator explained before the
Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce: ’The technical right of
appeal still remains. But nobody can afford to exercise it. . .
No man with an investment of $200,000 to$300,000 in a radio station
can risk non-renewal of his license. ’
"In April, 1933, Postmaster General Farley sponsored
appointment of Herbert L. Pettey as Secretary of the Radio Commis¬
sion. Mr. Pettey had been Director of Radio for the Democratic
- 5 -
10/15/40
National Committee in the 1932 campaign. On August 14, 1933, the
Commission issued a formal order demanding aggressive radio support
of the NRA program. 'It is the patriotic, if not the bounden and
legal duty of all licensees of radio broadcasting stations to deny
their facilities to advertisers who are disposed to defy, ignore or
modify the codes established by the NRA1, this rule said. 'Under
the Radio Act the Commission has no right of censorship. However,
the Commission has the right to take into consideration the kind of
programs broadcast when licensees apply for renewal. . . . During
the World War those who refused to do their part were termed
"Slackers" - a term of contempt. Those •who refuse to aid the govern¬
ment in this critical time in its war against depression should be
placed in the same category. . . . It is to be hoped that radio
stations, using valuable facilities loaned to them temporarily by
the government, will not unwittingly be placed in an embarrassing
position because of the greed or lack of patriotism on the part of
a few unscrupulous advertisers. ' Such incidents illuminate the
timeless wisdom of the Elder Pitt in his observation: 'Necessity
is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the
argument of tyrants and the creed of slaves.'
"Another personal appointee of the Postmaster General was
placed in charge of the FCC's Broadcast Division, recognized in the
industry as 'the policeman of the air'.
"During the 1936 presidential campaign Senator Arthur H.
Vandenberg, of Michigan, arranged a fifteen-minute national hook-up
late in October, in which he quoted some of Mr. Roosevelt's prior
speeches by transcription, interjecting his own observations and
comment. The program was duly announced and begun over the coast-
to-coast chain. Then the telephone wires from Washington began to
sizzle. Within two minutes, station after station began to fade off
the chain, each interrupting itw own program to announce that tran¬
scriptions of this sort might be held a technical violation of FCC
regulations. Before ten minutes of the period had elapsed, more
than eighty per cent of the stations had choked off the broadcast.
Such complete and speedy federal censorship of campaign utterances
had not previously been imagined within the industry.
"But on June 2, 1940, after the White House, Congress, and
the FCC had been petitioned to forbid broadcasting of the Commun¬
ist Party's national convention in New York, the Commission ruled
formally that it had 'no authority in any manner whatsoever' to
intervene against the broadcast. A spokesman for the FCC explained
this ruling by the statement that the federal authority 'can't put
anybody on the air and it can't take anybody off the air'."
The writer expressed himself on the television situation
as follows:
"By a summary order of March 23, 1940, the FCC halted the
general application of commercial television broadcasting, as pre¬
viously authorized, because of 'the fluid state of the art'. The
Chairman of the FCC then commanded a nationwide hook-up, in which he
advised the audience not to buy television sets, because they soon
might be outmoded by technological advances. Thus, after twelve
years of costly experimentation had brought television to the point
13 -
10/15/40
of general application, an arbitrary bureaucratic ruling decreed
abandonment of the development program pending further study and
hearings. A whirlwind of public indignation greeted this summary
action, but the order was not withdrawn. The significance of the
incident was presented forcefully by Mr. David Lawrence in the
observation: 'Congress never delegated such authority to the FCC,
but assumption of power is the habit of governmental commissions
nowadays. Congress has not yet waked up to the fact that it is no
longer the law-making body. ' "
The publisher is The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis
and New York, and the price is $2.50.
XXXXXXXXX
WAGE AND HOUR EXECUTIVE EMPLOYEES' REGULATIONS
In connection with general regulations announced yester¬
day (October 14) , by Administrator Fleming of the Wage and Hour
Division of the Department of Labor, effective October 24, when the
40-hour week becomes operative, redefining "executive, administra¬
tive and professional" employees, the Radio Manufacturers' Associa¬
tion has sent the following special bulletin to members, along with
copies of the regulations and detailed explanatory statement:
"General exemption from overtime is given to executive,
administrative and professional employees have 'non-manual assign¬
ments which require the exercise of discretion and independent judg¬
ment and if they receive $200 a month or more'. In the radio
industry the ruling is especially applicable to engineers and
laboratory employees, auditors, credit managers, buyers, and others
compensated over $200 a month.
"The Administration has previously ruled that when the
40-hour week becomes effective, October 24, weekly salaries may be
reduced but it is illegal to reduce hourly rates of employees. Time
and one-half must be paid for all time worked above 40 hours each
week after the first regular work-week following October 24, and
overtime must be based on the employee's regular hourly rate. Most
work-weeks in the radio manufacturing industry will begin Sunday,
October 27, or Monday, October 28, and there is no change in the
legal minimum wage which remains at 30/ per hour. "
XXXXXXXX
A media forum representing newspapers, radio, magazines
and outdoor will discuss the economic and social challenges con¬
fronting their fields, will be a feature of the convention of the
Association of National Advertisers to be held at the Greenbrier,
White Sulphur Springs, on Oct. 23 to 26.
XXXXXXXXX
7 -
10/15/40
NO FURTHER EXTENSION OF OPERATOR CITIZENSHIP PROOF
The promptness and cooperative efforts of the amateur and
commercial radio operators in filing satisfactory proof of their
citizenship and identification as required by Order No. 75 has been
very gratifying, according to a statement issued by the Federal
Communications Commission.
"In order to avoid any unnecessary hardship to the oper¬
ators, the filing date for the responses to that Order has twice
been extended by one month periods from the original date of August
15. Under the provisions of the Order as amended the responses are
due on or before October 15, 1940. It is apparent that there has
been an honest attempt on the part of the large majority of the
operators to meet that filing date", the statement continues.
"There will be no further extension granted. However,
the Commission realizes that certain individuals and groups of oper¬
ators will be unable to secure the necessary documentary proof of
citizenship within the time provided by the Order due to factors
beyond their control. Accordingly, the Commission is disposed to
accept without further action such responses as may be tardily filed
provided they are accompanied by satisfactory explanation of the
reasons which prevented prompt compliance with the Order. At the
same time it is desired to emphasize that arbitrary failure to sub¬
mit the response in accordance with the Order, or to offer a reason¬
able explanation of the factors necessitating late filing, may be
considered just cause for further action on the part of the Commis¬
sion. "
How one of the large companies, R. C.A. Communications, Inc. ,
carried out this order is told in the October issue of Relay , the
family magazine of RCAC:
"During the past week (Sept. 24) Central Office employees
have begun to file FCC forms 737 and 738, recently required as a
step in the national defense program. Filling out these papers
makes necessary, among other things, a birth certificate (or other
proof of citizenship), finger-prints, portraits, and notarization.
"In order to assist employees in preparing these papers
properly, Mr. Harry Chadwick has been delegated by the Company to
establish a temporary office in room 408. Mr Chadwick answers
the many questions which arise, directs various persons to the clos¬
est source of vital statistics, and gives personal attention to each
finger-printing operation. He is assisted in this work by Miss
Dorothy Tuder, typist.
"For convenience in obtaining photographs, RCAC has allow- •
ed an outside company to install an automatic photographing machine
in room 412.
"Miss Thalia N. Brown completes the requirements by notar¬
izing the two forms. Miss Brown has been handling this work from
- 8 -
10/15/40
room 801, but submissions have become so rapid she plans to join
the staff in 408 within the next few days.
"Walter Roe filed the first papers; this is unusual in
that the discintion is usually conceded to John Doe.
"Frank Ursitti pushed $3.60 in dimes down the photo¬
machine slot before he learned there was no possibility of hitting
a jackpot. The ensuing 36 pictures compose a rare character study.
"We pointed out to Mr. Chadwick that his work necessi¬
tated holding the hands of every girl in the building.
"!If Mrs. Chadwick found this out1, we asked, ’wouldn’t
you experience a quick change of address?’
"'Nonsense’’ he declared. ’Every time I hold a hand,
I leave a good impression.’ ’ "
XXXXXXXX
CLAIM CONSULS PROMOTE FASCISM HERE THROUGH RADIO
That the staffs of the Italian Embassy and Consulates
have grown busier every year organizing Facist activities on the
radio, through newspapers and other ways, is charged by Prof.
Gaetano Salvemini in a study of Fascist activities in the United
States issued by the American Council on Public Affairs, Dr.
Salvemini cites these "Fascist radio activities" of a single month
in New York on the basis of the following schedule :
Hour
Station
Sneaker
8:00 A.M.
wov
Negri
10:15 A M.
WBNX
Neri
1:00 P.M.
wov
Cano zzuc chi
2:30 p.M.
WOV
Porno
4:30 P.M.
WOV
Cammarota-Cammi
5:00 P.M.
WOV
Scotti
6:45 P.M.
WOV
Di Giura
7:15 P.M.
WOV
Gloria
10:30 P.M.
WBNX
Garo falo
Whenever a liberal-minded Italian has bought time from a
station to present a more democratic interpretation of events, his
program has been banned by the station manager after a few broad¬
casts, says Professor Salvemini. He asserts that Italian Consuls
have managed to get control of nearly all Italian organizations and
clubs and to form numerous new ones.
Dr. Salvemini further urges that sources of Fascist radio
and school propaganda should be investigated and radio speakers.
Journalists, parish priests and lecturers of Italian origin who
have carried on Fascist propaganda among Italians or Engl ish- speak-
ing. people during the last few years should be deprived of their
citizenship and deoorted to Italy.
XXXXXXXX
9
.1
10/15/40
BIG ADVERTISERS CONTINUALLY INCREASING RADIO TIME
An increase from $19,000,000 annual network advertising
expenditure ten years ago as compared with $83,000,000 last year
was cited by John J. Karol, Columbia Broadcasting System market
research counsel addressing the Production Men’s Club of New York.
"The food industry, for example, showed a 120 per cent
gain in network radio during the past ten years and last year food
advertisers spent $24,600,000 for network time alone", Mr. Karol
said. "The percentage of gains for other industries are almost
two striking to quote, so to be conservative let me give you a few
dollar- volume figures of radio expenditures during the past five
years: The big- three soap advertisers, for example - Lever Broth¬
ers, Colgate-Palmolive-Peet , Proctor & Gamble - increased their
buy of network time from $4,000,000 in 1935 to approximately
$15,000,000 in 1939; the cigarette and tobacco Industry increased
from $3,400,000 in 1935 to $11,600,000 last year; and the drug and
cosmetic industry, one of radio's largest users from the very first,
has advanced year to year, going from $15,900,000 in 1935 to
$22,400,000 in 1939. (As you know, many advertisers in this latter
classification are not acceptable to the major networks. )
"In looking through the list of advertisers using our
facilities in 1930 as compared with last year, we note a number of
interesting changes. For example, ten years ago two categories of
advertisers - radio set manufacturers and publications - accounted
for about 30 per cent of our total revenue. Last year advertisers
in these classifications amounted to less than 1 per cent of our
total billing. On the other hand, the automobile industry in 1930
accounted for about one-half of 1 percent of our revenue, whereas
last year the automobile industry accounted for 6-| per cent of our
billing, increasing from $31,000 to $2,200,000.
"Daytime broadcasting was just getting under way in 1930.
It amounted to slightly over $1,000,000, or about 1 per cent of our
total revenue. Last year advertisers spent over $12,000,000 for CBS
facilities prior to 6 p.m. and that amounted to over 35 per cent of
our total revenue - in other words, over 1000 per cent increase in
daytime broadcasting on CBS.
"Some of you may assume from the figures I gave you regard¬
ing tremendous increase in expenditures for network time that the
cost of broadcasting has similarly increased. Let me give you just
a few figures to prove that the reverse is actually true. In 1930,
CBS had 61 stations and provided primary coverage of 7,600,000 radio
homes. In 1940 CBS comprises 118 stations providing primary cover¬
age of 27,552,000 radio families, an increase of 259 per cent since
1930. Now if we compute the gross cost per 1,000 radio families in
Columbia's primary listening areas on the basis of the half-hour
evening rate, plus 50 per cent of time for talent cost, we find
that the average cost per 1,000 radio families in 1930 was $1.48
as compared with 77/ per 1,000 radio familes in 1940, or a drop of
48 per cent .
"The simple year-to-year record of expenditures of adver¬
tisers for radio broadcasting during the past 10 years is perhaps
the most convincing illustration of the effectiveness of radio
advertising. " XXXXXXXXXX -10-
l'
10/15/40
RADIO PERFORMERS’ PAY ROW COMPROMISED
An agreement covering all performers appearing on both
commercial and sustaining radio programs, intended to insure
industrial harmony until Nov. 1, 1943, has been negotiated by
officials of the American Federation of Radio Artists, an A. F. of
L. affiliate, and representatives of the National Broadcasting Com¬
pany and the Columbia and Mutual Broadcasting Systems, it was
announced last night.
A compromise on the basic pay for sustaining programs,
one of the chief issues that for a time threatened to lead to a
strike, ms reached. For New York programs and those going out on
the networks the fees were fixed at $19 for a fifteen-minute pro¬
gram, $23 for a half-hour program and $27.50 for an hour’s program.
The rates are proportionately lower for Chicago and the West Coast.
The broadcasters agreed to pay for rehearsals at a rate
that represents a 10 per cent increase for union members if pro¬
grams are held to a new minimum of rehearsal time and a 30 per cent
increase if the programs are rehearsed as long as is the present
practice .
XXXXXXXXXX
DEFENSE SPEEDS UP AND EXPANDS RCA
David Sarnoff, President of the Radio Corporation of
America, announced on Monday that the research and production facil¬
ities of the company are being expanded to speed national defense
orders for radio equipment and to accommodate demands of increased
business. In order to execute this expansion program, arrangements
have been completed to obtain temporary funds from a group of banks.
These borrowings aggregating $15,000,000 will be for a
term of five years at 1\ per cent interest, but with the privilege
of payment in whole or in part at any time prior to maturity. A
portion of the sum, Mr. Sarnoff announced, will be used to retire
the company’s currently outstanding bank loans of $2,000,000, which
oany an interest rate of 1-3/4 per cent, and are due April 8, 1941.
The number of employees of RCA and its subsidiary companies
at the end of September totalled 26,595 as compared with 22,640 in
the corresponding month of 1939, an increase of 3,955 employees.
The new program will further increase employment in the RCA organi¬
zation.
XXXXXXXX
11 -
>ni3
■
.'/5TC
10/15/40
RITTER RCA MANUFACTURING V-P
E. W. Ritter, formerly General Manager of radio tube
manufacturing for RCA Manufacturing Company, Inc. , has been elected
Vice-President in charge of all manufacturing and production engi¬
neering activities. H. L. Somme re r, former Manager of Manufacturing,
has been appointed Assistant to Mr. Ritter.
E. W. Engstrom, former Director of General Research,
becomes Manager of all research activities; E. E. Lewis, is appointee
Assistant Vice President as executive head of Accounts and Finance;
H. L. Beisswenger, I. T. Kitzmiller and E. M. Moore are appointed
Assistant Controllers.
XXXXXXXX
WMCA TO AID REGISTRATION
To expedite registration for selective service and to
minimize congestion at polling places, New York City headquarters
of the Selective Service Administration will broadcast timely bul¬
letins during registration night on October 16th through the facil¬
ities of Station WMCA. The broadcasts will be heard from 6:30 to
10:30 P.M., EST.
All polling places in public schools throughout the five
boroughs will be equipped with radios tuned to Station WMCA for
the bulletins. These bulletins will be ’phoned to WMCA by offi¬
cials of the Selective Service and all WMCA programs, commercial
and sustaining, will cooperate in the broadcasts.
XXXXXXXXX
OUR 3.W. CHEERS ENGLISH IN BLACKOUT
English radio stations either go off the air or turn to
record programs during blackouts, and listeners prefer the American
entertainment, explained Peter J. Sallis of Southgate in a letter
to WGEA, General Electric short-wave station.
"We have had continuous attempts to upset our mode of
life by air raids", wrote Mr. Sallis. "Apart from purely material
damage, one of their drawbacks is that they have caused our wire¬
less programs either to go off the air altogether or else we have
had to listen to numerous record recitals.
"I tune in my receiver to the 19-meter band and listen to
WGniA, and although I've done It plenty of times in the past, I must
say that these days it 1 s a boon. "
XXXXXXXXX
- 12 -
4’«
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
New Commissioner Probably Westerner . 2
Monopoly Report Argument Put Over Until After Election . 5
No Pay For Volunteer Radio Performers . 5
FCC Clears Up Old Brooklyn Situation . 6
WIND Boosted To 5 KW . 7
Tests For National Television Committee Authorized . 8
Broadcasts To Foreign Countries Must Be Recorded . 8
President’s Peace Time Radio Power Discussed . 9
Authorizes Radiotelephone To Chesapeake Bay Islands . 10
Trammell Puts Premium On Almonte Courtesy . 11
All America Cables Stands Behind Drafted Employees . 12
RCA Circuit Between U.S. and Finland Opened . 12
Columnists To Report On Defense? . 12
No. 1275
■
NEW COMMISSIONER PROBABLY WESTERNER
There seems to be every likelihood that the new member
of the Federal Communications Commission to succeed Col. Thad Brown
whose reappointment was blocked by the Senate, will be a man from
the West. That this part of the United States be represented on
the Commission has been urged by Senator Burton K. Wheeler, of
Montana, and others. Senator Wheeler is Chairman of the Senate
Interstate Commerce Committee which passes on nominations and
virtually everything having to do with radio in the Senate.
As the Commission now stands, its complexion is decidedly
Eastern. Although Chairman James L. Fly was born in Texas, he has
spent most of his life in the East. Mr. George H. Payne was born
in New York City; Commissioner Norman S. Case was born in Provi¬
dence, R. I. , and afterwards served as Governor of that State.
Commissioner T.A.M. Craven was born in Philadelphia and has spent
much of his life in the East and cruising about the world in his
17 years in the Navy. Mr. Frederick I. Thompson, born in Mississ¬
ippi, was appointed from Mobile, Alabama. The nearest to Western
representation is Commissioner Paul A. Walker, who spent most of
his life in Oklahoma although born in Pennsylvania.
Already the name of a Westerner has been mentioned as a
possibility for the vacancy on the Communications Commission. It
is Carl Irving Wheat, who was telephone rate attorney for the
Federal Communications Commission in 1936-37, and later telephone
rate counsel and Director of Telephone Rate and Research Department
of the FCC at the time of the Government teleohone investigation
in 1937-38.
Mr. Wheat, as a matter of fact, was born in Holliston,
Mass., in 1892, but went to California at an early age. He was
graduated from Occidental College Academy in Los Angeles, in 1911
with an A. B. at Pomona College, Claremont, Calif, in 1915, and
an LL.B., at Harvard in 1920. He was admitted to the California
bar in that same year and began practice in Los Angeles, first as
attorney for the Railroad Commission of California, of which he
later became Chief Counsel. There followed practice at San Fran¬
cisco in his serving as Public Utilities Counsel for the City of
Los Angeles from 1933-36 as well as being associated with the
City Attorney’s office during that time.
After the telephone investigation at the FCC, he returned
to San Francisco and Los Angeles where he entered law practice and
became consulting attorney of the Public Utilities Commission of
Hawaii and Department of Public Service in Washington, D. C. He
is now practicing law in San Francisco as well as the National
Capital.
- 2 -
10/18/40
Mr. Wheat was with the American Ambulance Service in
France in 1917 and. was a First Lieutenant in the Air Service,
1918-19. He is a member of the California Historical Society,
Southern California Historical Society, E. Clampus Vitus, Book
Club of California, the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco, Phi Beta
Kappa, Kappa Delta. He is a Congregationalist and belongs to the
following" clubs : Commonwealth, Bohemian (San Francisco); Zamorano,
University (Los Angeles); Cosmos (Washington).
Mr. Wheat is also a noted author and has written the
following publications : "Life of Theodore D. Judah"; "Ned
McGowan, the Ibiquitous"; "Trailing the Forty-Niners Through Death
Valley"; "Regulation of Interstate Telephone Rates". He was edi¬
tor of "The Journals of Charles E. De Long, 1929-31; The Shirley
Letters from the California Mines, 1932; Wah-to-Yah, or The Taos
Trail, 1935; also of Quarterly of Historical Society of Southern
California, 1933-36. He compiled the following: Public Utility
Regulation, California Railroad Commission, 1927; Digest of
Decisions California Railroad Commission, 1927. He also has
contributed to legal and historical periodicals.
Although the term of Commissioner Thad Brown expired
June 30th, and the place has been vacant ever since, it may not
be filled for some time. President Roosevelt said that probably
no more major appointments will be made until after election.
Asked about vacancies at present in the Communications Commission
and the National Labor Relations Board, the President remarked
that the Senate Committees are all short of quorums at present
and that he very likely would make no appointments requiring Senate
confirmation until the legislators return to Capitol Hill.
If the FCC appointment should be made before election,
unquestionably it will be political. If afterwards, then very
likely to some deserving "lame duck". It would be a juicier plum
before the election because it has to be a Republican and favor
might be curried among Republican voters as evidently the Presi¬
dent tried to do in appointing Secretaries Stimson and Knox to the
Cabinet.
As usual, the radio industry will probably have hardly
anything to say about it. The Administration may go through the
motion of consulting some of the industry leaders but as has
almost invariably been the case in the past, when the announcement
is made it will come pretty much as a surprise to all and this
writer is willing to bet that rather than a man having any techni¬
cal qualifications or knowing anything particular about the com¬
munications or radio industry, it will be another politician.
It’s the same old thing over and over again.
In connection with the Senate refusal to confirm the
appointment, the following letters were exchanged by Colonel Brown
and the President:
3
10/18/40
’’October 14, 1940
"My dear Mr. President:
"May I express to you ray deep appreciation of the trust
and confidence you reposed in me in reappointing me on June 5 as
a member of the Federal Communications Commission. Events which
have transpired since then make it necessary for me to request at
this time that my nomination be withdrawn and the appointment
terminated immediately.
"As you will recall, during the early spring and before you
appointed me a member of the Commission for another term, I had
seriously contemplated entering the private practice of law. The
opportunity which presented itself at that time is still available
to me, and, in justice to my family and myself, I feel that it is
my duty to carry out this original plan.
"With kindest personal regards and greetings, I am,
Respectfully yours,
(Signed) Thad H. Brown
"October 14, 1940
"Dear Mr. Brown:
"The terms of the request in your letter of October fourteenth
seem to leave me no alternative but to accede. It is, however, with
reluctance and with very real regret that I withdraw your nomina¬
tion as a member of the Federal Communications Commission, and in
further acquiescence in your request permit termination of your
services as a member of the Commission, effective as of this date.
"In taking this action, however, I desire to express my ap¬
preciation of your work and my confidence in your ability to carry
on - a confidence which has reflected in my action in tendering you
a reappointment last June.
"I have long known of your desire to return to private life
and I desire to wish you happiness and all success in the practice
of the law.
"Very sincerely yours,
(Signed) Franklin D. Roosevelt
XXXXXXXXXXXX
4
1 '■ " V . - f'
v ’ ;v. ■...
' ' • ‘ ■ ; ‘ v. . v
10/18/40
MONOPOLY REPORT ARGUMENT PUT OVER UNTIL AFTER ELECTION
Oral argument in connection with the investigation by
the Federal Communications Commission of chain broadcasting will
be held on Tuesday, December 2, and Wednesday, December 3. The
subject matter for argument will be limited to the issues of fact
and policy raised by the report of the chain broadcasting committee
dated June 12, 1940.
It was further announced that at the request of inter¬
ested parties, the final date for the filing of briefs would be
extended to November 11, 1940.
XXXXXXXXXX
NO PAY FOR VOLUNTEER RADIO PERFORMERS
Col. Phillip B. Fleming, Administrator of the Wage and
Hour Law has ruled that persons who appear voluntarily on such
programs as ”Man on the Street” and "Quiz Game” broadcasts are
not employees of the radio stations within the meaning of the law.
The instructions were issued relative to an order of
Sept. 16 relating to sustaining radio programs because of a mis¬
understanding of its scope and the receipt of many inquiries.
XXXXXXXX
c
ORRECTION
In quoting from the Senate transcript in the article
"Tobey Forces Brown to Qpit", in our issue of October 15th, the
following was inadvertently attributed to Commissioner T. A. M. Craven ;
»* * # I heard a discussion, apparently coming from the
direction where Mr. Brown was sitting; and I noticed that, as a
result of that, he was holding the lady's wrist and I was holding
it so as to prevent her from - apparently - attacking him in some
form; because she seemed to be rather angry, as a result of the
discussion. ”
This was incorrect. What Commander Craven really said was;
"I heard a discussion, apparently coming from the direc¬
tion where Mr. Brown was sitting; and I noticed that, as a result
of that, he was holding the lady's wrist and was holding it so as
to prevent her from - apparently - attacking him, in some form;
because she seemed to be rather angry, as a result of the discus¬
sion. "
As stated in article, though Commander Craven was in the
Club^that night along with Commissioner Case and others, he was
not in Colonel Brown's immediate party.
XXXXXXXX
10/18/40
FCC CLEARS UP OLD BROOKLYN SITUATION
The Federal Communications Commission has granted the
applications for renewal of licenses for Station WLTH, The Voice
of Brooklyn, Inc., and WARD, United States Broadcasting Corp. ,
and denied the application for modification of license by WBBC,
Brooklyn Broadcasting Corp. , insofar, only as the facilities of
WARD and WLTH are requested. All stations operate on the frequency
of 1400 kilocycles with 500 watts power, sharing time equally,
each station serving the Brooklyn area. It is a complicated case
that has been before the Commission for years.
In 1932 four Brooklyn stations (WLTH, WARD, WBBC and
WVFW) , filed applications for increase of operating time, which
if granted, would have required the delection of one or more of
the other stations. A hearing ms held before an Examiner in
August and September, 1933. During this hearing and subsequent
thereto a number of applications were filed by other parties seek¬
ing full-time use of the 1400 kilocycle frequency. Also, the
licensees amended their applications as to operating time requested
Therefore, the Commission ordered a further hearing to include
these subsequent applications, which was held in December, 1934,
and the Commission rendered its decision on December 17, 1935.
Thereafter upon consideration of petitions for rehearing the Com¬
mission on February 5, 1936, ordered a hearing de novo to be held
before it upon all the applications then pending and involving the
use of the 1400 kilocycle frequency in Brooklyn, including renewal
applications of the licensees. This hearing was held in March and
April, 1937. On June 29, 1937, the Commission entered its order
(1) granting the applications of WBBC for renewal of license and
for renewal of auxiliary transmitter license, and granting in part,
the application for modification of license, insofar as that appli¬
cation requested the facilities of Stations WARD and WLTH, and deny¬
ing the application insofar as it requested the facilities of WVFW;
(2) granting the applications of WVFW for construction permit to
make equipment changes and for renewal of license, and (3) denying
all other applications involved in the proceeding.
Thereafter WLTH and WARD each filed notice of appeal in
the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia from the
Commission’s decision of June 29, 1937, denying their applications
for renewal of licenses. Appeals were also taken by the Brooklyn
Daily Eagle Broadcasting Co., Inc., and the Debs Memorial Radio
Fund, Inc. , from the same decision which denied their applications
for the operating time of WBBC, WLTH, WARD and WVFW. Later the
appeals of Debs Memorial Ra.dio Fund, Inc. , and the Brooklyn Daily
Eagle Broadcasting Co., Inc., were withdrawn.
On September 30, 1937, the Court of Appeals, on petitions
filed by WLTH and WARD stayed the effectiveness of the Commission's
order of June 29, 1937, insofar as it terminated the service of
WLTH and WARD and assigned the operating time of said stations to
WBBC. Pursuant to a motion filed by the Commission the Court of
Appeals on October 13, 1939, remanded back to the Commission for
6
10/18/40
further proceedings the cases which were the subject of the above
appeals taken by WLTH and WARD with the stipulation that "The Com¬
mission and the other parties in interest agree that the status quo
will remain until the Commission has acted on the remand. w
Based upon the foregoing the Commission on October 27,
1938, ordered temporary licenses be issued to WLTH and WARD for
their continued operation, and on the same date set aside its
order of June 29, 1937, insofar only as the same denied the appli¬
cations of WLTH and WARD for renewal of licenses and granted in
part the application of WBBC for modification of license to utilize
the time of WLTH and WARD. The Commission* s order of October 27,
1938, also set aside the Statement of Facts and Decision of June 29,
1937, insofar as the same denied the renewal applications of WLTH
and WARD and granted the application of WBBC for the operating time
of WLTH andWARD. The Commission’s reconsideration of this record
has been limited to the evidence which relates to the applications
of WLTH, WARD and WBBC.
In its grounds for decision the Commission concludes:
1. The broadcasting service rendered the public by Stations
WLTH and WARD has been of the same general character and quality as
the service rendered by Station WBBC and there is, in fact, no sub¬
stantial distinction in the merits of the services of these three
stations.
2. The licensees of Stations WLTH and WARD are qualified
legally, technically, financially, and otherwise to operate their
respective stations on the limited basis of a time-sharing station.
3. The granting of the application of WBBC for modification
of license insofar as said application request authority to operate
during the hours used by WLTH and the hours used by WARD would not
serve public interest, convenience and necessity.
The order in this case will become effective Oct. 22,1940.
XXXXXXXXXX
WIND BOOSTED TO 5 KW
One of the fastest growing stations in the Chicago are,
Station WIND, operated by the Johnson-Kennedy Radio Corporation at
Gary, Ind. , has been granted a construction permit to increase
night power from 1 kilowatt to 5 kilowatts and make changes in
directional antenna system for day and night use; 560 kilocycles.
XXXXXXXX
7
. ..
10/18/40
TESTS FOR NATIONAL TELEVISION COMMITTEE AUTHORIZED
In line with its policy of cooperating with the National
Television Standards Committee, which is endeavoring to determine
standards so that the development of the television industry may
go forward, the Federal Communications Commission has granted
authority to operate television Station W2XBS in New York with
special emission in addition to A3 emission on Channel No. 1, in
order to conduct experimental tests for the Committee and the
National Broadcasting Co., to not later than January 1, at which
time proper standards may be arrived at.
Because of the enthusiasm of Chairman Fly with regard to
color television, additional requirements may be made so that when
television is again reintroduced to the public, it may be in color
instead of black and white. It is said the industry fears that
if this rule is laid down for all television stations, there will
be further delay as it may take longer to produce color apparatus
and that the expense will be much greater.
XXXXXXXXXX
BROADCASTS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES MUST BE RECORDED
Following the recent meeting in Washington of the repre
sentatives of U. 8. short-wave broadcasting stations and by way
of tightening up in connection with National Defense, the Federal
Communications Commission has adopted the following rules affecting
international broadcast stations:
(1) Each licensee of an international broadcast station shall
make verbatim mechanical records of all international programs
transmitted.
(2) The mechanical records, and such manuscripts, trans¬
cripts, and translations of international broadcast programs as are
made shall be kept by the licensee for a period of two years after
the date of broadcast and shall be furnished the Commission or be
available for inspection by representatives of the Commission upon
request.
(3) If the broadcast is in a language other than English the
licensee shall furnish to the Commission upon request such record
and scripts together with complete translations in English.
XXXXXXXX
One of the oldest stations in the United States, WWJ,
owned by the Detroit News, is increasing its power to 5 KW.
XXXXXXXXX
- 8 -
10/18/40
PRESIDENT'S PEACE TIME RADIO POWER DISCUSSED
The extent to which the President can interfere in peace¬
time with communication, production, and distribution is the extent
to which he can interfere with the freedom and the property rights
of the American citizen, according to "The President's Peace Time
Power in 1940", a pamphlet prepared under the direction of The
Industrial Survey and Research Service in the Barr Building,
Washington, D. C.
\\
It carries an introductory note:
"This publication has been prepared in response to urgent
requests for 'plain English' information to answer such questions
as, 'Well, suppose the President can take over radio stations and
industrial plants, what can that do to me so long as I do not own
the stations or plants he commandeers?' With one notable exception,
the pages that follow are concerned with the effect of the Presi¬
dent's peace time power upon all American citizens, rather than
with its effects upon the owners of producing or servicing agencies.
The laws quoted in this publication have been selected in the light
of a fact which everybody know^but which too many citizens forget ••
that all the goods and services essential to our everyday family
and community life are furnished by the country's producing and
distributing facilities .
"The information is confined to specified power grants
that convert liberties, heretofore exercised as a citizen right,
into privileges enjoyed at the discretion of the President. "
"Radio programs come into American homes in peace-time
at the pleasure of the President - not by right of the American
citizen." ("Except for homes having radios caoable of receiving
foreign broadcasts directly - not through American chains. ")
There follows the wartime radio statute with capital
letters to emphasize the points which the Research Service desires
to make.
"Upon proclamation BY THE PRESIDENT that there exists
war or a threat of war or a state of public peril or disaster or
other national emergency, or in order to preserve the neutrality
of the United States, the President may suspend or amend, FOR SUCH
TIME AS HE MAY SEE FIT, the rules and regulations applicable to any
or all stations "( radio ) "within the jurisdiction of the United
States as prescribed by the Commission" (Communications) "and may
cause the closing OF ANY STATION for radio communication and the
removal therefrom of its apparatus and equipment, or he may author¬
ize the use or control of any such station and/or its apparatus and
equipment by any department of the government under such regula¬
tions as he may prescribe, upon just compensation to the owners. "
(48 Stat. 1104) ("The Press throughout the country during the last
week of September, 1940, carried announcements that the President
had set up a board to prepare an operating plan for this power. ")
9
10/18/40
"The President is empowered to nullify in time of peace
any order for goods or services from any American citizen or group
of citizens - whether such goods or services are for use in the
American home, in hospitals, schools; in private business, includ¬
ing transportation, communications, or in any other activity of
normal American life. "
"The draft- industry provision of the Act ( Section 9,
Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, approved September 16,
1940) makes no explicit or implied exemption of newspapers or
periodicals. The printing plants of newspapers are not exempt. "
"Telephone and telegraph, motion pictures, railroads,
electric and gas stations, all have plants capable of furnishing
war supplies. And, therefore, they are not exempt."
XXXXXXXXXX
AUTHORIZES RADIOTELEPHONE TO CHESAPEAKE BAY ISLANDS
The Federal Communications Commission has granted an
extension of telephone facilities from Crisfield, Md. to Tangier
and Smith Islands by means of radiotelephone. In granting these
applications to the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of
Baltimore City and the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of
Virginia, the Commission made it clear that it was not establish¬
ing the policy of authorizing radiotelephone facilities instead of
wire line facilities, but recognized that radiotelephone might be
used in extenuating circumstances to provide telephone service to
the public when such service could not be rendered through wire
line facilities.
The above-mentioned islands are located in the Chesapeake
Bay area approximately 13 miles from the shore. The proposed sta¬
tions will provide a telephone circuit available between Crisfield
and each of the islands on a shared basis or between the two is¬
lands. At Crisfield connection with the general telephone system
will be provided. During the past few Winters these islands have
become isolated due to ice and weather conditions and it has be¬
come necessary to organize relief parties for the purpose of pro¬
viding food for the inhabitants. During one Winter the life of a
State trooper was lost while attempting to cross the ice with nec¬
essary food and supplies. During the Winter of 1939 and 1940 the
applicant, while planning on a permanent means to connect these
islands with the regular telephone system, established emergency
radio facilities. Experience has shown that there is an important
need for communication, since the facilities were employed on a
number of cases to request foodstuffs and medical supplies for the
people on the islands. At the present time, there are approxi¬
mately 800 people on Smith Island and 1400 on Tangier Island who
are engaged principally in the fishing industry.
The service between Crisfield and the Islands can best
be provided by means of radiotelephone rather than submarine cable,
since the large amount of activity by fishing and oyster boats in
the vicinity would create a hazard to the cable.
XXXXXXXXX
- 10 -
10/18/40
TRAMMELL PUTS PREMIUM ON ALMONTE COURTESY
Anyone who has been pushed around and high-hatted by the
male attendants in broadcasting stations will approve a very
unusual order issued by Niles Trammell, new President of the
National Broadcasting Company, who is shaking things up all along
the line and making numerous changes in personnel. It is that the
employees of the company be courteous to the studio and office
visitors. Niles suggests to get further pointers on this that
they see Senor Don John de Jara Almonte, longtime Nigh Manager of
NBC, who, because of his gentlemanly ways has been frequently refer¬
red to as the "diplomat of the kilocycles". In fact, one Washington
visitor was so impressed by Mr. Almonte’s diplomacy in handling
people that he suggested he would be a good man for our Ambassador
to Spain.
Mr. Trammell being from Georgia, the home of good manners,
was likewise impressed with this outstanding ability of Mr. Almonte
and also the value of courtesy to the customers and visitors,
accordingly issued the following memo to all departments and divi¬
sion heads of the NBC:
"It is a matter of concern to me that in the discharge of our
responsibilities as executives of the National Broadcasting Company,
neither you nor I are able to devote as much time as we would wish
to those courtesies which mean so much in fostering good will and
developing closer friendships between NBC and its clients, agencies,
affiliated stations and other important contacts.
"To remedy this situation the office of Assistant to the Presi¬
dent, occupied by Mr. John Almonte was created. Now, while an
attractive brochure ’After Hours’ was mailed to clients and agencies
last April, it is from within our own organization that the fullest
appreciation of the opportunity to create good will through the use
of Mr. Almonte’s services must come. In this connection, I may say
that 'After Hours' did not quite cover the whole picture. Mr.
Almonte is available at any hour when he can be of service to NBC.
"While the very nature of Mr. Almonte's assignment makes it
necessary that he be kept free of the details of operation of any
department, his unique ability may be very helpful to all depart¬
ments. For example, the September 1940 list of network advertisers
carries the names of seventy- four clients - our networks embrace
over two-hundred stations - potential clients are continually having
auditions. I believe you will agree with me that in our relation¬
ship with all of these a little extra courtesy and helpful friend¬
liness might be very useful to NBC.
"I plan to discuss these matters with Mr. Almonte at regular
intervals and I shall hope to hear that you are all taking advant¬
age of the services he can render. I have found him a help. "
xxxxxxxx
11
* j
■
ALL AMERICA CABLES STANDS BEHIND DRAFTED EMPLOYEES
Frank W. Phelan, President of All America Cables and
Radio, Inc., and President of the Commercial Mackay Corp., which
comprises the Commercial Cable Co. , Mackay Radio and Federal Tele¬
graph, announced this week that any American citizen, who is a
regular employee of these companies or subsidiaries, who is called
into or voluntarily enters active service in the National Guard,
Army, Navy or Marine Corps for a period of one year and 40 days or
less, will be re-employed in his former position or an equivalent
position upon satisfactory completion of such service.
An emoloyee entering any of these services for this per¬
iod of time will be granted a leave of absence and will be given
credit in his record of service with the company. The company
will give one month’s pay to any employee who has been with the
company for over one year and will carry his entire group insur¬
ance for him for the oeriod.
XXXXXXXXX
RCA CIRCUIT BETWEEN U. S. AND FINLAND OPENED
The world-wide services of R. C. A. Communications, Inc.,
were increased this week by the opening for the first time of a
direct radiotelegraph circuit between the United States and Finland.
Heretofore, it has been necessary to route messages between the
two countries by way of Stockholm.
The new circuit operates between the cities of New York
and Helsinki. Messages between this country and Finland may be
filed or received at any R. C. A. Communications office in the
United States.
In addition to the circuit’s obvious advantages to busi¬
ness and government circles, RCAC officials said, it is believed
that operation of a direct radio link should do much to further
cement the excellent relations long existing between Finns and
Americans.
XXXXXXXXXX
COLUMNISTS TO REPORT ON DEFENSE?
The Washington Post carried this paragraph recently by
Leonard Lyons:
"Arrangements have been completed for a series of Sunday
night broadcasts, sponsored by the United States Government, over
all the hookups. The broadcasts will feature four commentators -
Wythe Williams, Walter Winchell, Elmer Davis and H.V. Kaltenbom -
each of whom, for 6 minutes, will report to the National exactly
what the Government has accomplished for National Defense during
the preceding week. Their reports will be in four classifications:
Army, Navy (Winchell), Air and Industry. Each will be free to
make his own analysis and criticism, unhampe re d by any censorshin. "
XXXXXXXXXX -IP-
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF OCTOBER 22, 1940
Decrease In Communication Equipment Products . 2
New Brooklyn Station Sought . 5
Despite Color Early Television Standards Hoped For . 5
Federal Protest Seen If ASCAP Blackout . 6
Changing An Editor's Politics . 7
WJSV Celebrates Eighth Birthday . .....7
Broadcast Application Examination Revised . 8
WQXR Asks More Time For Expansion . 8
Another Long Title For Mr. Rockefeller . 8
Boake Carter Comeback May Cause Congressional Ire . 9
Trade Notes . .1 . 10
Reviews Broadcasting Regulations . 11
Improved Electricity Broadcast Device Shown . 11
I. T. & T. Protects Military Service Employees . 12
Wage-Hour Law Recommendations Decided Upon . 12
WMCA Studios Reproduced By A1 Jolson . . . 12
)*•£• -‘r"- wtindi Wit.NT
I IQ> £ * li a » it ;i a i
| OCT 2 3 1940^ i
I
\
.
'
‘
.
.
October 22, 1940
DECREASE IN COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT PRODUCTS
Manufacturers of communication equipment reported moder¬
ate decreases in employment, wages, and production for 1939 as com¬
pared with 1937, according to preliminary figures compiled from
returns of the Census of Manufactures for 1939 and released by
Director William Lane Austin, Bureau of the Census, Department of
Commerce .
This industry, as constituted for census purposes, embraces
establishments primarily engaged in the manufacture of electric
signaling apparatus (other than railway); signals and attachments
(railway); telephone and telegraph equipment; and miscellaneous
radio parts except loud speakers and microphones which are a part
of the Radios, Radio Tubes, and Phonographs industry.
The wage earners primarily engaged in manufacturing in
this industry in 1939 numbered 32,119, a decrease of 21.6 percent,
compared with 40,981 reported for 1937, and their wages, $44,444,379
decreased 19.7 percent as compared with $55,326,496, reported for
1937. These decreases may be partially accounted for by the fact
that the 1939 Census of Manufactures questionnaire, for the first
time, called for personnel employed in distribution, construction,
etc., separately from manufacturing employees of the plants. It is
not known how many of the wage earners reported for 1937 were en¬
gaged in distribution and construction and how many were engaged in
manufacturing. Employees of the plants reported as engaged in dis¬
tribution and construction activities in 1939 are not included in
this preliminary report but will be included in the final report.
The value of products of the industry for 1939 amounted
to $191,326, 489, a decrease of 15.9 percent, compared with $227,-
523,931 reported for 1937.
Summary statistics for 1939 and 1937 are given in Table 1.
Detailed statistics on production are given in Table 2. All figures
for 1939 are preliminary and subject to revision.
Table 1. - Summary for the Industry: 1939 and 1937
(Because they account for a negligible portion of the national
output, plants with annual production valued at less than
$5,000 have been excluded since 1919)
(Table follows next page)
2 -
10/22/40
Table 1 (Cont’d)
Percent of
1939 1937 increase or
decrease (-)
Number of establishments . . .
227
187
21.4
Salaried personnel 1/ .
9,305
13 , 470
-30. 9
Salaries 1/2/ .
.$ 25,325,092
$ 29,740,220
-14.8
Wage earners (average for
the year) 3/ .
32,119
40,981
-21.6
Wages 2/ 3/~ .
. $ 44,444,379
$ 55,326,496
-19.7
Cost of materials, supplies,
fuel, purchased electric
energy, and contract work 2/ .
. $ 48,353, 690
$ 65 , 180, 56o
-25. 8
Value of products 2 / .
. $191,326, 489
$227,523,931
-15. 9
Value added by manufacture 4/.
. $142, 972,799
$162,343,366
-11. 9
i/ No data for employees of central administrative offices are
included.
2/ Profits or losses cannot be calculated from the census figures
because no data are collected for certain expense items, such as
interest, rent, depreciation, taxes, insurance, and advertising.
3/ The itme for wage earners is an average of the numbers report¬
ed for the several months of the year and includes both full-time
and part-time workers. The quotient obtained by dividing the amount
of wages by the average number of wage earners should not, therefore
be accepted as representing the average wage received by full-time
wage earners.
4/ Value of products less cost of materials, supplies, fuel, pur¬
chased electric energy, and contract work.
Table 2 - Products, by Class, Number, and Value: 1939 and 1937
1939
1937
1.
Communication Equipment industry,
$191,326,489
2.
all products, total value
Communication equipment made
$227,523,931
3.
in the industry .
Miscellaneous products not
150,862,615
167, 560,396
4.
specified .
Receipts for contract and
4,016,460
14, 856, 630
5.
repair work .
Other products (not classified
347, 660
91,029
6.
in this industry) .
Communication equipment made as
secondary products in other
1/36, C09, 754
45,015,876
industries ....
Communication equipment, aggregate
2/14,543, 233
26,050, 800
value (sum of 2 and 6)
(Table continued)
- 3 -
$165,405,848
$193,611,196
10/22/40
Table 2. (Continued)
1959 1957
Radio apparatus:
Miscellaneous parts . $ 45,665,666
Radio transformers —
For receiving sets —
Number reported—
Number .
Value . $
Number not reported, value . . $
For transmitting sets, value . . $
6,767,722
5, 279, 956
1, 951,811
607,785
Signaling apparatus, electric (other
than railway) .
Audible signals .
Burglar-alarm and hold-up apparatus
Contact devices .
Electric street traffic-signal
apparatus and accessories .
Fire and watch signal apparatus. . .
Hospital signaling apparatus ....
Nonautomatic internal telephone
apparatus .
Relays .
Visible signals .
Municipal fire and police signaling
systems, including sprinkler super¬
visory and automatic fire-detecting
devices .
Railroad highway grade crossing
signals (exclusive of relays and
other control apparatus .
Othe r 4/ .
$ 4,252,460
$ 855,822
$ 284,950
$ 1,265,595
$ 881,647
$ 757,071
$ 595,454
$ 258,211
$ 416,500
$ 1,010,865
$ 1,454,244
$ 7,791,928
$ 47,528,415
8,859,645
$ 4,479,608
| 5,589,605
$ 487,650
$ 5,162,475
$ 1,007,687
$ 259,887
$ 1,245,950
$ 495,954
| 452,920
$ 585,812
$ 288,112
$ 420,701
(3)
(3)
$ 14,547,792
Telephone and telegraph apparatus
(not including wireless) . . .
94,557,945 $115,882,648
1/ Ignition apparatus, insulated wire, telephone and telegraph
cable, laboratory testing instruments, resistance welding
electrodes, transformers.
2/ Incomplete; complete figures will be given in the final report.
3/ Included in u0ther" electrical signaling apparatus in 1957.
4/ Includes laboratory electrical test equipment, and railway sig¬
nals and attachments (including automatic train controls), and
visual and audible code-calling systems for 1959 and 1957.
See all items covered by footnote 5.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- 4 -
• \ „■
10/22/40
NEW BROOKLYN STATION SOUGHT
Following the granting of license for Station WLTH, The
Voice of Brooklyn, and a general clearing up of the Brooklyn broad¬
casting situation after years of litigation, an application has
been received from the Frequency Broadcasting Corporation of Brooklyn
to construct a new station to be operated on 620 kilocycles, 500
watts, daytime only.
The same company has applied for a new high frequency
broadcast station to be operated on 43,700 kilocycles with a
coverage of 14,400 square miles, and a population area of 11,900,000.
XXXXXXXXXX
DESPITE COLOR EARLY TELEVISION STANDARDS HOPED FOR
Notwithstanding the apprehension the industry seems to
have that there may be delay and added cost if Chairman James L.
Fly, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission insists
that the rebirth of television be in color instead of black and
white, W. R. G. Baker, of the General Electric Company, Chairman
of the National Television System Committee still expressed the
hope that television standards could be completed by January 1.
Already several panels, or committees, have completed plans for
undertaking this work. Certain of the panels whose work involves
consideration of color and the possible application of Frequency
Modulation still have a great deal of work ahead of them. Among
the panels yet to be heard from and the tentative completion dates
are :
Panel 1 - System Analysis, November 1
Panel 2 - Subjective Aspects, November 1
Panel 7 - Picture Resolution, November 1
Panel 8 - Synchronization, November 15
Panel 9 - Radiation Polarization, December 1
"The sixteen members of the National Television Systems
Committee represent manufacturing companies, research organizations,
and utilities actively engaged in, or closely associated with the
radio industry. Of the fifteen voting members - the Chairman
having no vote - eight represent companies associated with the Radio
Manufacturers ’ Association. There is, in addition, one representa¬
tive of the Radio Manufacturers’ Association of Canada, Ralph A.
Hackbush, who acts as an observer only", Mr. Baker reported.
"The detailed analytical work is handled by nine panels
consisting of 138 members representing 41 companies or organizations.
Of these 41 companies, 19 represent receiver manufacturers; 5 repre¬
sent manufacturers producing both transmitters and receivers; 9
represent universities or research organizations; 4, utilities;
3, broadcasting organizations, and one, consultant. "
XXXXXXXX
- 5 -
j .kj / dc>r
FEDERAL PROTEST SEEN IF ASCAP BLACKOUT
Duplicating a similar performance held recently at the San
Francisco Exposition, which it is alleged was deliberately ignored
by the radio stations, the American Society of Composers will sponsor
a Cavalcade of American Music at the New York World's Fair on Thurs¬
day, October 24. This may prove the first Eastern showdown in the
big fight between ASCAP and NAB. How many stations or networks
will broadcast this performance remains to be seen.
If there is a duplication of the West Coast radio blackout,
it is understood the Composers will address a strong protest to
President Roosevelt, the Federal Communications Commission and
Congress.
said:
Gene Buck, returning from the ASCAP show at San Francisco,
"The fact that the Fair was able to draw such a crowd for
a special event without a bit of help from radio is proof that any¬
one with an important message to put across to the public can still
do it exclusively through the press. It shows that, in contacting
the public, newspapers still come first. "
The New York World' s Fair Cavalcade will comprise the
highlights of American music, composed and written by members of
the Society. It is being given as part of the ceremonies celebrat¬
ing its Twenty- Fifth Anniversary.
There will be two concerts, one in the afternoon and one
in the evening. Both will be free to the public. The afternoon
concert will feature the Rochester Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra,
and symphonic works of members of the Society, including Henry
Hadley Deems Taylor, Dr. Howard Hanson, William Grant Still and
Morton Gould.
The evening concert will have Gene Buck as Master-of-
Ceremonies and will be devoted to a Cavalcade of American songs of
the past and present. There will be a tribute to the memories of
Victor Herbert, ASCAP ' s Founder; John Philip Sousa and George
Gershwin .
The following composers and authors have come from Holly¬
wood for the occasion: Jerome Kern, Sigmund Romberg, Jean Schwartz
and Walter Donaldson. An extra added attraction will be Gene Autry,
the cowboy singer-composer, who wil sing some of his own Western
melodies.
The partial program of composers and authors who will
appear in person and who will either play or sing their own composi¬
tions, follows:
Irving Berlin - "God Bless America"; George M. Cohan -
'I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy"; "Give My Regards to Broadway", "Grand
Old Flag"; Jerome Kern - "Ole Man River", "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes",
All the Things You Are"; Sigmund Romberg - "Lover Come Back To Me",
6
10/22/40
"One Alone", "Sweethearts"; W. C Handy, "The St. Louis Blues";
Harry Von Tilzer - Medley; Joe Howard, "I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her
Now"; Harry Armstrong - "Sweet Adeline"; Jean Schwartz - "China¬
town"; Johnny Green, "Body and Soul"; Billy Hill - "The Last Round
Up"; Ferde Grof - "On the Trail" from "The Grand Canyon Suite";
Milton Ager - "Happy Days Are Here Again"; Fred E. Ahlert, "Where
the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day".
XXXXXXXXXX
CHANGING AN EDITOR’S POLITICS
In his book "The Dead Hand of Bureaucracy" just published,
Lawrence Sullivan writes, in a chapter called "We, The Government":
"An amusing story in the records of the Federal Communi¬
cations Commission relates how, by the astute political use of
governmental powers, a Massachusetts editor of militant Republican
inclinations was converted to New Dealism. The editor decided to
supplement his newspaper with a local radio station. Sometime
between the date of his application and its approval by the FCC,
the editor dropped all criticism of Democratic policies, both
state and national. But the first radio license give this editor
only daylight broadcasting hours - after a considerable investment
in equipment. Thereafter a promise of night hours at some future
date kept him a loyal Democrat through the following three elec¬
tions, for his only chance to bail out on the heavy investment was
to obtain night hours in the profitable range of commercial broad¬
casting. "
XXXXXXXXXX
WJSV CELEBRATES EIGHTH BIRTHDAY
WJSV in Washington celebrated its eighth anniversary last
Sunday as a member of the Columbia Broadcasting System. WJSV, now
one of the foremost stations in the country and broadcasting with
50 KW, went into the network with a higher power, 10 KW, than many
stations did on that day.
The initial program was at 9 P.M. on the night of
October 20, 1932. Harry C. Butcher, now a Vice-President of CBS,
was General Manager of the station. The master of ceremonies was
A. D. ("Jess") Willard, Jr., now General Manager. Handling the
program with him were Bob Trout, afterwards stationed at the White
House, and Larry Elliott, now two of the networks best known
announcers.
XXXXXXXX
7
10/22/40
BROADCAST APPLICATION EXAMINATION REVISED
The procedure of the Federal Communications Commission
for examination of standard broadcast applications by the staff
departments has been revised with a view to more orderly and
expeditious handling. Provision has been made for the considera¬
tion of these applications simultaneously , as far as possible, by
the technical departments. The methods of operation of each of
the individual units responsible for the review of applications is
also being studied with a view to speeding up the work.
The Secretary of the Commission has been directed not to
regard applications as formally filed with the Commission until they
are in his hands, duly executed, and complete with respect to the
answering of all required questions. Under the new procedure, an
acknowledgment card will be sent to the applicant immediately upon
receipt of the application. If it is necessary to return the
application for the correction of formal defects or to enter into
correspondence with the applicant with regard to correcting his
application in respect to any matters of form, the applicant will
be notified that his application is not in form for consideration
by the Commission and that the application will not be shown on the
records of the Commission as officially filed until the formal
defects specified in the letter of notification have been corrected.
Upon the return of the application in proper form, a file number
will be assigned and the application will take its place in the
regular order for consideration.
XXXXXXXXXX
WQXR ASKS MORE TIME FOR EXPANSION
WQXR in New York City has applied for more time to com¬
plete enlargement and improvement of the station; likewise to meet
North American Regional Agreement requirements. Changes at WQXR
contemplate new equipment, installation of directional antenna for
day and night use and an increase in power from 5 to 10 kilowatts;
also a change of frequency from 1550 to 1560 kilocycles.
XXXXXXXXX
ANOTHER LONG TITLE FOR MR. ROCKEFELLER
Nelson Rockefeller, President of Radio City, who is now
spending practically all of his time in Washington as Coordinator
of Latin- American Economic and Cultural Problems of the National
Defense Commission, has had another impressive title conferred upon
him. This time by Jesse Jones who has appointed Mr. Rockefeller,
Chairman of the Inter-American Development Commission of the
Department of Commerce.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 8 -
10/22/40
BOAKE CARTER COMEBACK MAY CAUSE CONGRESSIONAL IRE
When Boake Carter returns to the radio tomorrow (Wednesday)
night after a two years* absence from the networks, he may again
find himself the subject of Congressional debate. It was the asser¬
tion of Senator Rush Holt, of West Virginia, that Mr. Carter was put
off the air because he was preaching a doctrine of isolationism
against Britain and it was at the instance of the British that he
was no longer allowed to broadcast. According to Senator Holt,
the door was closed to Mr. Carter by the cancellation of a contract
with the company owned by Mrs. Marjorie Post Davies, wife of Joseph
E. Davies, then American Ambassador to Russia, and a firm supporter
of the Administration's foreign policy.
In addition to the Administration's objection to Mr.
Carter, himself a naturalized Britisher opposing the British, he
also found disfavor with the Administration because of his strong
support of the amendment of Representative Louis Ludlow, of Indiana,
providing for a popular referendum before Congress and the Presi¬
dent could declare war. This amendment, so strongly supported by
Carter in spite of the opposition of President Roosevelt and
Secretary of State Hull and almost unanimous newspaper opposition,
was lost only by the tiny margin of 214 to 196.
In view of all this, the Administration, as well as
Congress, will no doubt listen with considerable interest to Mr.
Carter to see whether or not he will change the tone of his comments.
Mr. Carter was born in Baku, Russia, son of a British
consular agent and an Irish mother, Edith Harwood-Yarred Carter.
He served in the Royal Air Force and came to the United States in
1920, but was not naturalized until 1933. He was at one time a
newspaper reporter and worked for some years in the oil business in
Mexico and Central America. Since 1932 he has been amazingly popu¬
lar as a radio commentator.
Mr. Carter will be on the air from 8:30 to 8:45 P.M. , EST,
from WOR, every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. He returns under
the auspices of the United Air Lines, marking the first time an air¬
line has sponsored a regular series on a major network. A network
of 10 Mutual stations will carry Mr. Carter's news analyses.
With his new commercial series, Mr. Carter will shift his
headquarters from Philadelphia where he has generally had his office,-
to New York.
In addition to his broadcasts, Mr. Carter will continue to
write his syndicated column for over 100 papers. He also plans to
keep up his lecture engagements all over the country making use of
airplane transportation to allow him sufficient time for his news¬
casts.
XXXXXXXXX
- 9 -
10/22/40
TRADE NOTES
The United Broadcasting Company has applied to the Federal
Communications Commission for modification of license to operate
Stations WEHU, portable-mobile, WEHV, mobile, and WRPM, portable
mobile, in connection with stations WCLE and WHK, Cleveland.
Emanuel Dannett, for 9 years its legal representative,
has been elected to the WOR Board of Directors.
Charles B. Brown has been appointed manager of Station
Promotion for the National Broadcasting Comoany, succeeding B.J.
Hauser, who has been transferred to Blue Network Promotion.
Applications for the following attorneys to practice
before the Federal Communications Commission have been approved:
Milton Diamond, New York City; Paul J. Kaveney, St. Louis, Mo.;
Israel Harvey Levinson, Chicago, Ill. ; Morton F. Melnik, Madison,
Wis. , and G-. Mallet Prevost, Washington, D. C.
Bingham, N. Y. is seeking a new station to be operated
on 1420 kilocycles with 250 watts power.
The Vacuum Tube Section of the Radio Manufacturers’
Association is now being reorganized under the chairmanship of
R. M. Wise, of the Hygrade- Sylvania Corporation.
Dr. C. Guy Suits, 35-year-old research physicist, was
recently appointed Assistant to the Director of the General Electric
Research Laboratory. Dr. Suits has been a member of the Laboratory
staff since 1930 and is widely known for his research in high-
ternperature arcs.
Hygrade Sylvsnia Corporation - Nine months to Sept. 30:
Net profit, before provision for excess profits taxes, $648,263,
equal after preferred dividend requirements, to $2.64 a share on
207,184 common shares. No comparable figures for 1939 period are
available.
Paul McCluer has been made Central Division Red Network
Sales Manager and E. R. Borroff named Blue Network Sales Manager
of the National Broadcasting Company. McCluer has been Manager of
the Division's Blue Network sales force and Borroff has been a
member of the Division’s Red network sales staff.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 10 -
10/22/40
REVIEWS BROADCASTING REGULATIONS
Reprints are now available of a detailed discussion of
"Law Developments in Federal Regulation of Broadcasting" written
by Louis G. Caldwell, former General Counsel of the old Federal
Radio Commission, for the 1940 Variety Radio Director.
In his introduction Mr. Caldwell writes:
"On the credit side of developments in federal regulation
of radio in the year just closed should be listed increasing ef¬
ficiency, in the sense of prompt and incisive action, and the
freedom from external evidence of bickering and dissension, which
began during the closing two months of the previous year, and has
continued during the year just closed. The commission’s prestige
has been correspondingly enhanced. Counterbalancing this (or as
additional credits, depending on the viewpoint) must be placed
(1) the persistent procedural trend toward decisions in quasi¬
judicial matters without hearing, toward avoiding or minimizing
the rights of persons adversely affected to be heard either before
the Commission or on appeal, and toward substitution of the ’ invest i
gative technique1 for due process of law in the traditional sense;
(2) the equally persistent substantive trend toward so-called
’value judgments' without statement of reasons or fixing of prin¬
ciples and with frequent disregard of principles or standa.rds al¬
ready announced, necessarily leading to lack of uniformity and un¬
predictability; and (3) a marked effort toward expansion of power,
particularly in the direction of economic regulation of industries
subject to the Act.
"The one new factor is the crisis engendered by the war
in Europe which at times bids fair to reverse the downward trend of
censorship and to open up an all-too-tempting vista for further ex¬
pansion of inquisitorial and bureaucratic control over broadcasting.
In his review Mr. Caldwell discusses broadcast regulation
under the following heads: "The Machinery of Regulation", "Regula¬
tion of Standa.rd Broadcast Stations", "Regulation of Radio Services
Related to Broadcasting", "Appeals from the Commission's Decisions",
and "International Radio Regulation".
xxxxxxxxx
IMPROVED ELECTRICITY BROADCAST DEVICE SHOWN
An improved "Klystron", a generator that sends electrical
power through the air, was demonstrated before 100 engineering
professors and other educators from seventy-five Eastern colleges
and universities and other guests at the laboratories of the West-
inghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in Bloomfield, N. J.
The new type of generator was hailed as* bringing the wireless trans¬
mission of electricity a step nearer to practical application, such
as providing power for illumination and "domestic uses in homes.
The short-waves emitted by the machine were demonstrated by I. E.
Mouromtseff, Research Engineer of the company's Special Products
Engineering Department.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 11 -
10/22/40
I. T. & T. PROTECTS MILITARY SERVICE EMPLOYEES
Col. Sosthenes Behn, President of the International Tele¬
phone and Telegraph Corporation, has announced the Company's policy
in regard to employees who enter the active military service of the
United States.
Leave of absence up to one year will be granted to any
such employee. Upon application within 40 days of the conclusion of
such period employees will be reinstated by the Company in previous
positions or positions of comparable status unless the Company’s
circumstances are so changed that it will make it impossible to do
so .
Employees of more than one year’s standing will receive
one month’s regular pay. Under the Company’s pension plan these
employees will receive full credit for the previous term of employ¬
ment plus such period. The Comnany will pay the employee’s present
Group Insurance premiums for him during such period of service and
during this time the employee will be entitled to the Company’s
regular death benefit under its pension and benefit plan less that
which is paid by the Government.
xxxxxxxxxx
WAGE-HOUR LAW RECOMMENDATIONS DECIDED UPON
In anticipation of prospective appointment by the Federal
Wage and Hour Administration of a radio ’’Industry Committee ,f to
consider wage standards under the law, the Radio Manufacturers’
Association has made preparations to recommend appointments on the
employers’ group of such a committee. For these appointments the
RMA Set Division has chosen A. S. Wells and J. P. Rogers, of
Chicago; the Tube Division, Roy Burlew of Owensboro, Kentucky,
and M. F. Balcom, of Emporium, Pa.; the Parts and Accessories
Division, Octave Blake of So. Plainfield, N. J. , and J. H. Stack-
pole of St. Marys, Pa. , and the Amplifier and Sound Equipment Divi¬
sion, Messrs. G. Hamilton Beasley, of Chicago, and L. A. Randall,
of Rochester, N.Y. Further procedure toward organization of the
contemplated Radio Industry Committee is expected within the next
month or two on the initiative of the Wage-Hour Administration.
•V-""' xxxxxxxxxx
WMCA STUDIOS REPRODUCED BY AL JOLSON
An unusual promotion venture was concluded when Broadway’s
current musical hit starring A1 Jolson "Hold On To Your Hats" re¬
decorated their sets with WMCA call letters in the secnes of an
interior of a radio broadcasting station. The call letters, some
standing three feet high, decorate the walls of the stage and the
microphones in scenes 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Act 1. The theatre program
also lists the settings in this act as taking place on "Stage of
WMCA Broadcasting Studio" or its studio, recent ion room and corri¬
dors, respectively.
XXXXXXXXXXX
- 12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
I
INDEX TO ISSUE OF OCTOBER 25, 1940
Not The War But Ionosphere Storms . 2
FCC Amends Amateur Rules . 3
Paid Time Seen As Political Test . 3
Richmond Station Asks Increase . 3
Newfoundland Station Figures In Portland Denial . 4
Engineers Prepare For Fall Meeting . 5
Full Steam Ahead For RCA In National Defense . 6
Sixteen Stations Granted Power Increases . 8
Crosley On All Six International Frequencies . 9
Comell-CBS Hookup Approved . . . 10
Trade Notes . 11
Defense Commission Surveys Radio . 11
NBC Returns To Air With Television Tests . 12
WJJD And WIND On Competitive Basis . 12
No. 1277
NOT THE WAR BUT IONOSPHERE STORMS
If the short-wave programs from Europe do not come in as
clear this Winter as those from South America, don’t blame it on
the war. Dr. A. T. Consentino of the Argentine Ministry of the
Interior, and Dr. J. H. Dellinger in the U. S. Bureau of Standards
in Washington, declare in a joint article that because of ionosphere
storms radio signals going north and south at this season are much
greater in volume and considerably less variable than broadcasts
between the United States and Europe.
The study was made to determine what happens on trans¬
mission paths between South America and the other continents, and
has yielded an explanation of the North Atlantic anomaly.
The work was confined to the northern winters or southern
summers, because it is only at that time of year that there is an
opportunity to make observations in the Americas on radio broadcast¬
ing from Europe. Radio transmission at broadcast frequencies occurs
over great distances only at night, and it is only in December and
adjacent months that there are periods when local interference is
absent and night prevails throughout the region between Europe and
eastern North America or Argentina.
The work of the noted Argentine and American scientists
has established the fact that radio transmission between South
America and either North America or Europe is relatively free from
influences that seriously impair transmission between North America
and Europe. For the time of year at which the measurements were
made (northern winter or southern summer) , the received intensities
for transmission between North America and South America average
approximately 25 times the intensities between North America and
Europe, and are only about one- fifteenth as variable.
The conditions of low and variable received intensity are
characteristic of radio transmission over any path at times of
inosphere storms. Since the North America-Eurooe transmission path
is near the magnetic pole and auroral zone, where ionosphere
storms have maximum effects, that path is thus markedly subject to
ionosphere storms, even relatively slight ones which would have no
effect on transmission over paths farther south.
The effect occurs at high as well as broadcast frequencies
and is so marked that it is commonly impossible to communicate dir¬
ectly between North America and Europe during ionosphere storms,
and radio traffic is then actually carried on by relaying through
Buenos Aires. As these conditions prevail for several days, the
North America-Europe transmission path is almost never entirely
- 2 -
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10/25/40
free from ionospheric storminess, the prevalence of which in the
transmission path appears to present a complete explanation, Dr.
Consentino and Dr. Dellinger conclude, of the unsatisfactory
transmission between North America and Europe.
xxxxxxxxx
FOC AMENDS AMATEUR RULES
The Federal Communication Commission’s Rules and Regula¬
tions was modified for a temporary period so as to permit an
amateur station which is moved from one permanent location to
another permanent location prior to May 1, 1941, to be operated
at the latter location (in accordance with the provisions govern¬
ing portable stations) for a period not exceeding four months, but
in no event beyond the expiration date of the license; provided a
proper application for modification of license is duly filed with
the Commission.
XXXXXXXXX
PAID TIME SEEN AS POLITICAL TEST
Mark Sullivan, the political writer, has offered the
following suggestion as to how to tell the difference between
"President Roosevelt" and "Mr. Roosevelt, the Third Term candidate".
"To save hearers and readers from the inconvenience of
determining which of Mr. Roosevelt’s utterances is political and
which presidential, a method of labeling has been thoughtfully
arranged. When the Democratic National Committee pays the cost
of the radio time and the expense of the trip, it is a political
speech. When the Government* pays the expense of the trip, and
the radio time is donated to the President as a public official,
that is a presidential speech.
Thus, the public is benevolently enabled to know when
Mr. Roosevelt is appealing impartially and officially to all the
people, in the interest of national defense, and when he is seeking
votes for himself. "
X X X X XX X X X X
RICHMOND STATION ASKS INCREASE
A construction permit to install a new transmitter, make
changes in directional antenna for night use and an increase of
power from 1 kilowatt to 5 kilowatts on 880 kc. , has been applied
for to the Federal Communications Commission by Station WRNL,
Richmond Radio Corporation, Richmond, Va.
XXXXXXXXX
- 3 -
. . f , BTTO #8 ^ 9flc{® Cfl 0 1 'OO^rt 9tyt^
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10/25/40
NEWFOUNDLAND STATION FIGURES IN PORTLAND DENIAL
International, as well as domestic considerations, figur¬
ed in denial by the Federal CommunicationsCoramission of two peti¬
tions for rehearing of its grant, on July 16, to the Portland
Broadcasting System, Inc. , of a construction permit to change the
frequency of radio station WGAN at Portland, Me., from 640 to 560
kilocycles, and to increase power from 500 watts limited time to
5 kilowatts unlimited time.
Rehearing was sought by two petitioners each of whom
has an application pending for the use of 560 kilocycles. They
are Community Broadcasting Service, Inc. , licensee of WABI, at
Bangor, which has applied to change its frequency from 1200 kilo¬
cycles to 560 kilocycles and to increase its power from 250 watts
to 1 kilowatt; and William H. Rines, who has applied for a con¬
struction permit to erect a new station at Portland to operate on
560 kilocycles, with power of 5 kilowatts day and 1 kilowatt night.
The three applications are mutually exclusive.
The Commission points out that before WGAN filed its
present application, it had filed an application (later withdrawn)
for unlimited time on 640 kilocycles. Shortly thereafter the
government of Newfoundland advised the Commission that the 640
frequency was assigned to it by the North American Regional Broad¬
casting Agreement and that Station VONF, which operates on this
frequency, is in many instances the only effective means of keeping
the Newfoundland public informed as to weather reports, government
decrees, and other news. Newfoundland pointed out that even as
then operated WGAN caused serious interference to the secondary
service area of VONF and that the grant of the application would
increase the interference. Newfoundland proposed that if the Com¬
mission would not assign 640 kilocycles to any station in the
United States which would cause interference to VONF* s secondary
service area, Newfoundland would relinquish in favor of the United
States all claims to the frequency 560 kilocycles also assigned to
Newfoundland. These terms are mutually agreeable to both countries.
The Commission found that WGAN and WABI were both quali¬
fied to operate stations as proposed in their applications. Between
these two stations the question narrowed as to whether the public
would be better served by location of new facilities in Portland
(WGAN) or in Bangor (WABI).
It was found that WGAN would provide a greater service
than WABI. Further, it appeared that there is greater need in
Portland for the radio servi ce requested than in Bangor. Portland,
Maine's largest city, is served both day and night by only one
local station as compared to two stations serving Bangor, with
less than half Portland's population.
In the case of the Rines application, the Commission
determined that public interest, convenience or necessity would be
better served by the WGAN grant. WGAN offered more adequate cover-
„ 4 _
10/25/40
age. The WGAN grant did not involve objectionable interference to
any station, whereas the proposed Rines service would interfere
with CJKL at Dane, Ontario, in violation of the North American
Regional Broadcasting Agreement. The WGAN equipment is satis¬
factory but part of the proposed Rines installation is not. The
licensee of WGAN is better qualified and has had more radio
experience than Rines. Competition between radio stations in
Portland will be keener under the WGAN grant, for the Rines family
is interested in Portland's other station - WCHS - as well as WRDO,
Augusta, and WFEA, Manchester, N. H.
xxxxxxxx
ENGINEERS PREPARE FOR FALL MEETING
Several hundred radio manufacturers and executives are
expected to attend the annual Fall meeting of the Institute of
Radio Engineers and the Engineering Department of the Radio Manu¬
facturers' Association in Rochester, N.Y., beginning November 11th.
James 5. Knowlson, of the Stewart Warner Company, Chicago,
President of the RMA, will be the speaker at the banquet Tuesday
evening, November 12, on the subject, "Engineers and Industry".
The toastmaster will be Dr. A. F. Van Eyck of New York.
Many meetings of engineering committees and subcommittees
will be held during the Rochester sessions, and there will be a
meeting of the RMA General Standards Committee on Monday, November
11.
Numerous papers by outstanding engineers on television,
frequency modulation and other subjects will be read at the techni¬
cal sessions, whose Chairmen will include L. C. F. Horle, President
of the IRE, W. R. G. Baker, of the General Electric Company,
Bridgeport, Conn. , Dr. Alfred N. Goldsmith of the Radio Corporation
of America, Keith Henney and Henry Sheve of New York, and Ralph A.
Hackbusch of the Canadian Radio Manufacturers' Association. Also
there will be technical exhibits of component parts and testing
equipment, specially arranged for engineering staffs and manu¬
facturers, by thirty-two exhibiting companies.
XXXXXXXXX
The Federal Communications Commission has had to censure,
by mail, a Pacific Coast ship captain who, in radio discussion
with another vessel about position and weather, could not refrain
from cussing the latter. His unlawful superfluous language was
heard by others and reported to the Commission.
XXXXXXXXX
- 5 -
10/25/40
FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR RCA IN NATIONAL DEFENSE
National defense has become the radio industry’s main
theme song, according to an RCA press statement. Radio from
research to assembly line is geared and moving as never before in
its history to provide Uncle Sam with the most efficient and
extensive communication system ever operated on land, sea and in
the air.
The recent $7,605,773 order placed by the United States
Army with the Radio Corporation of America was the largest order of
its kind in the records of radio manufacturing. The industry is
gearing the machinery of manufacturing to accelerate production of
all types of radio apparatus. Vacuum tubes now are being turned
out by the industry as a whole at the rate of 400,000 daily.
Evidence of RCA' s policy of "full steam ahead" is found
in the recent announcement that the conooration has arranged with
a group of banks to borrow $15,000,000 at 1^ percent for five
years, for expansion of research and production facilities to /
speed national defense orders of the Government.
Recognizing the vital role of communication in national
defense, the radio men last Summer placed large orders for tool
machinery and took steps to remove any possible "bottlenecks" long
before actual orders were received. In the case of RCA, throughout
the entire organization national defense is the "must" program bul¬
letined as No. 1 all the way from television research to manufactur¬
ing, from domestic broadcasting to international communication. It
is no secret that the National Research Council at a time such as
this calls in the experts of all fields, and that the RCA Labora¬
tories have been enlisted to help the United States Government.
"As a leader in radio, the RCA is conscious of its obli¬
gation to the Government in the speedy advancement of the defense
program", said Meade Brunet, Manager of Engineering Products, who
is also in charge of the Washington Office of the RCA Manufacturing
Company. "For more than six months RCA has been training addi¬
tional personnel, while expanding research and production facili¬
ties in a program that has added considerably to employment. Em¬
ployees by the thousands have pledged themselves to play their parts
in the defense program and to deliver all equipment on schedule.
"The program was carefully mapped last June", said Mr.
Brunet, "and we are following it to the letter. Thoroughly coordi¬
nated all along the line, it has entailed an expenditure of several
mill ion dollars in tools and in expanding manufacturing space. The
RCA did not wait for the passage of the amortization and tax bill
before swinging full forice into action for national defense. We
recognize defense as self-preservation, and that is why plans were
so elaborately made early in 1940. This foresight has averted any
curtailment of our regular manufacturing of radios for the home.
We took time by the forelock, since the World War shed evidence
6
10/25/40
enough of what might be expected of radio in national defense",
said Mr. Brunet.
So vast has the radio industry become since the World
War that it is estimated military orders for radio equipment in
1940 will be fifty to one compared with 1917, when radio did not
have the world-wide scope it has today. It is pointed out that
vacuum tubes in 1917 were limited in number and highly expensive,
yet today more than 500 different types are manufactured at prices
that represent only a fraction of those prevailing twenty years ago.
Also during the World War an aviator "just looked to the ground"
to find his way or get back to his base. Today, radio provides him
with a voice that travels far, with blind flying instruments, and
with direction finders.
Furthermore , development of auto radios, short waves,
microwaves and broadcasting, unknown or little used during the
World War, are now powerful "weapons" in communication on land, sea
and in the air. The massive alternators of 1917 have been replaced
by the more efficient vacuum tubes that hurl spoken words around
the globe. It was a real achievement in 1917-18 to toss dots and
dashes across the Atlantic on long wavelengths. Communication ex¬
perts point out, therefore, that all the new uses discovered for
radio since the Armistice was signed in 1918, now put radio far to
the front in any program that pertains to national defense. To a
large extent, radio men confess, their activities must be couched
in secrecy at this time, especially in regard to the development of
secret communication. But they are quick to add, "national defense
is our No. 1 theme song".
In addition, through broadcasting and continued improve¬
ment of the American system, the public is being informed quickly
of all new developments at home and abroad. Since broadcasting as
a public service was a "by-product" of the World War, such simul¬
taneous contact with the populace was not possible when the A. E. F.
was overseas. Also today, radio is an important Pan-American link
of friendship that helps to knit the Americas "all for one, one for
all".
The key to putting the United States far in the lead in
radio is generally recognized as research, out of which it is ex¬
pected, based on World War experience, to bring forth new instru¬
ments, if, as, and when world peace lifts the curtain of mystery
behind which the radio research experts are now at work.
XXXXXXXXX
A Baltimorean has made inquiry at the Federal Communica¬
tions as to his eligibility for a license to operate an amateur
station on premises which he owns Jointly with his mother who is ar_
alien. This would be contrary to regulations which restrict place
of amateur station operation to control of United States citizens
exclusively.
XXXXXXXXXX
- 7 -
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SIXTEEN STATIONS GRANTED POUTER INCREASES
At one sitting this week the Federal Communications
Commission granted increases in power to sixteen stations and
set hearings for boosts for three more. The stations and their
increases follow:
WJAR, The Outlet Company, Providence, R. I., increase
night power from 1 to 5 kilowatts, move transmitter to five miles
southeast of center of Providence, install new directional antenna
with different adjustments for day and night use; 890 kilocycles,
5 kilowatts day, unlimited time.
KARK, Arkansas Radio & Equipment Co., Little Rock, Ark.,
increase night power from 1 to 5 kilowatt, and make changes in
directional antenna; 890 kilocycles, 5 kilowatts day, unlimited time.
WMMN, Monongahela Valley Broadcasting Co., Fairmont, W. Va.
increase night power from 1 to 5 kilowatts, make changes in direc¬
tional antenna; 890 kilocycles, 5 kilowatts day , unlimited time.
WBAA, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, Ind. , increase
power from 1 kilowatt day, 500 watts night, to 1 kilowatt night,
5 kilowatts until local sunset; 890 kc. ; move transmitter to 5 miles
south of Lafayette, and install directional antenna for night use,
TflBRY, American Republican, Inc., Waterbury, Conn., install
new transmitter, change directional antenna system, increase power
from 1 to 5 kilowatts; 1530 kc. , unlimited time.
KFUN, Las Vegas Broadcasting Co. , Inc. , Las Vegas, Nevada,
increase in night power from 100 to 850 watts; 1480 kc. , 850 watts
day, unlimited time.
KENO, Nevada Broadcasting Co*, Las Vegas, Nevada, approval
of transmitter location and antenna, change in type of transmitter
and increase in night power from 100 to 850 watts; 1370 kc. , 250
watts day, unlimited time.
WTJS, The Sun Publishing Co., Inc., Jackson, Tenn. , in¬
crease from 250 watts to 1 kilowatt, change frequency from 1310 to
1360 kilocycles, install new transmitter and directional antenna for
night use.
KLPM, John B. Cooley, Minot, N. Dak. , increase nighttime
power from 500 watts to 1 kilowatt, upon compliance with Rule 3.45;
1360 kc. , 1 kilowatt day, unlimited time.
KFOR, Cornbelt Broadcasting Corp. , Lincoln, Neb. , move
transmitter, antenna changes and increase in night power from 100
to 250 watts; 1210 kc. , 250 watts day, unlimited time.
KPRC, Houston Printing Corp. , Houston, Tex. , install
directional antenna for night use and increase from 1 kilowatt night
5 kilowatts day to 5 kilowatts unlimited; 920 kc.
WTAW, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas,
College Station, Tex. , install new transmitter, increase from 500
watts day to 1 kilowatt day, and extend completion dates 60 days
after grant and 180 days thereafter; 1120 kc. , specified hours.
KFEL, Eugene ?. O’ Fallon, Inc., Denver, Colo., increase
from 1 kilowatt to 5 kilowatts day and night, install new trans¬
mitter and directional antenna for day and night use; 920 kc.
WPEN, Wm. Penn Broadcasting Co. , Philadelphia, Pa. , in¬
stall new transmitter, increase from 1 kilowatt to 5 kilowatts,
using directional atenna at night; 920 kc . , unlimited.
- 8 -
7
10/25/40
K0M0, Fisher's Blend Station, Inc., Seattle, Wash., in¬
stall directional antenna for night use and increase from 1 kilo¬
watt night, 5 kilowatts day, to 5 kilowatts unlimited; 920 kc.
KRNT, Iowa Broadcasting Co. , Des Moines, la. , move trans¬
mitter locally, install new transmitting equipment, install dir¬
ectional antenna for night use, and increase power from 1 kilowatt
night, 5 kilowatts day, to 5 kilowatts unlimited time; 1320 kc.
The stations seeking more power and scheduled for a
hearing are: KOWH, World Publishing Co., Omaha, Nebr. , increase
from 500 watts to 5 kiloxvatts; also to change frequency from 660
kc. , to 890 kc. ; increase hours of operation from day only to un¬
limited; move transmitter site, install new transmitter, and dir¬
ectional antenna for night use; requests facilities of KUSD and KFNF
KUSD, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, S. Dak. ,
C.P. to install new vertical antenna, change frequency from 890 kc.
to 660 kc. , change hours of operation from 500 watts night and day
to 500 watts daytime, shares-KFNF; to be heard jointly with KOWH,
and application for renewal of license KFNF, Shenandoah, Iowa.
WNAX, South Dakota Broadcasting Corp. , transferor Iowa
Broadcasting Co., transferee Yankton, S. Dak., asks to transfer
station of Station WNAX from South Dakota Broadcasting Corp. , to
Iowa Broadcasting Co. ; 570 kilocycles, 1 kilowatt night, 5 kilo¬
watts day, unlimited time.
XXXXXXXX
CROSLEY ON ALL SIX INTERNATIONAL FREQUENCIES
Less than one week after its formal dedication, WLWO,
Cincinnati, little brother of WLW at Cincinnati, becomes the only
international short wave station in the United States, according to
a Crosley press statement, authorized to operate on each of the six
international wavelengths, with unshared frequencies and with un¬
limited time. The distinction came to WLWO when the Federal Com¬
munications Commission granted WLWO’s application to operate on the
9, 11, and 15 megacycle bands, with exclusive frequencies and no
restrictions on time,
R. J. Rockwell, Technical Director of the Crosley Corpora¬
tion, Broadcasting Division, reported that WLWO can now establish
schedules for Latin American coverage which will utilize each of
these frequencies at their periods of maximum effectiveness.
Mr. Rockwell explained that different frequencies are
more effective in reaching Latin America at different times of the
day. During the past Summer, for instance, studies revealed that
the 21 megacycle band was excellent for South American coverage
from 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. ; EST. As evening drew near, lower frequen ¬
cies were employed.
The complete list of WLWO frequencies in kilocycles is
as follows: 6,080; 9,590; 11,710; 15,250; 17,800; 21,650
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now delivering the most powerful international signal in South
America, Mr. Rockwell said. He stated that in addition to a large
volume of mail from regular listeners in countries throughout
South America, reports from Embassy and other sources also indicate
that WLWO is "coming in" with greater intensity than any other sta¬
tion, North American or European. The WLWO signal is reported to
be "much stronger" than those cf German and other signals originat¬
ing in Europe.
The unusual effectiveness of WLWO is attributed to the
combination of frequencies with an antenna structure that enables
engineers to "beam" the signal4ithin a comparatively narrow area,
instead of dispersing it in all directions. Though the radio wave
enters the antenna system with a strength of 50,000 watts, a power
attained so far only by WLWO on international frequencies, the ef¬
fect of the beamed signal in South America is that of a 600, 000-
watt station.
XXXXXXXXX
CORNELL-CBS HOOKUP APPROVED
The Federal Communications Commission recently put its
O.K. on the application of Station WHCU, owned by Cornell Univer¬
sity at Ithaca and the Columbia Broadcasting System.
The official order on this was as follows:
"It appearing that the contract of April 1, 1938 between
Cornell University and the Elmira Star-Gazette, Inc., upon the
basis of which the renewal application herein was designated for
hearing, has been cancelled; that the existing contract between
Cornell University and the Columbia Broadcasting System is in the
usual chain affiliation fora; that the general subject of chain
affiliation contracts is now being studied by the Commission and
that any decision or opinion with respect to the existing contract
between Cornell University and Columbia Broadcasting System should
be reserved until consideration and action by the Commission upon
the entire subject of chain broadcasting agreements;
"It is ordered, that said petition for reconsideration
and grant without hearing be, and it is hereby, granted; that the
hearing on the above-described application be, and it is hereby,
cancelled; and that the application of Cornell University for
renewal of license for Station WHCU be, and it is hereby, granted.
Station WHCU at Cornell, now the principal Eastern uni¬
versity representative of CBS, will also originate for the network
programs of information and entertainment in which students and
faculty will participate. In addition to the studio already on
the campus, there will be another studio in downtown Ithaca com¬
pleted at a cost of $25,000. Students in the Cornell School of
Engineering will fill many of the positions in operating the sta¬
tion; the Cornell Radio Guidl will prepare the programs.
WHCU will ooerate daytime only on 850 kc. , 1 KW power.
XXXXXXXXXX -10-
10/25/40
: : TRADE NOTES
Station WEAF has requested an extension of time from
the Federal Communications Commission of the completion date of
its new station in New York City from November 6 to December 6,
Gerald A. Vernon, of the Research Department of the
National Broadcasting Company, has been transferred to the Sales
Promotion Department in the Central Division with headquarters in
Chicago.
The TropicalBroadcasting Company desires to construct a
250- watt station at DeLand, Florida, on 1340 kilocycles under the
North American Regional Agreement.
The Seventeenth Annual Convention of the Radio Manu¬
facturers' Association and Radio Parts National Trade Show will
be held in Chicago, June 10, 1941.
Galveston, Texas, has added four additional portable
mobile police high frequency police transmitters.
KFBK, Sacramento, KWG, Stockton, KERN, Bakersfield, and
KOH, Reno, will be formed into a group to be known as the Cali-
f ornia-Nevada Group to become a part of the Pacific Coast Blue
Network.
xxxxxxxxxxx
DEFENSE COMMISSION SURVEYS RADIO
The National Defense Commission, through Stacy May, Dir¬
ector of its Bureau of Research and Statistics, has requested the
assistance of the Radio Manufacturers' Association to discuss pos¬
sible procedure regarding radio requirements of the National
Defense program. James S. Knowlson, of Chicago, President of the
Association, will appoint a committee of five to cooperate with
the said Commission. Radio necessities of the Army, Navy, British
procurement and civilian demands will be canvassed with a view to
providing adequate industry capacity to meet the greatly increased
demands and prevent "bottlenecks" in production and deliveries.
Similar procedure with other industry organizations is contemplat¬
ed by the Council of National Defense, but the radio industry is
one of the first approached in the new field of industrial cooper¬
ation.
XXXXXXXXX
- 11 -
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NBC RETURNS TO AIR WITH TELEVISION TESTS
The National Broadcasting Company announced that it would
shortly resume television tests over Station W2XBS. Operation of
the station was suspended August 1 to make changes required by the
new assignment of television frequencies by the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission.
"These test programs, the first of which will be a film
transmission on Sunday evening, October 27, will necessarily be
irregular", said Alfred H. Morton, NBC Vice-President in Charge of
Television. "As we try out each of the different pieces of equip¬
ment, time will be required to coordinate them with other parts of
the complete system.
"We plan to put power through the sight and sound trans¬
mitters on Friday and Saturday evenings, October 25 and 26, trans¬
mitting test pattern on both occasions. This will enable us to
make the first of the necessary adjustments to the new equipment
and circuits and will give the televiewer a chance to tune up his
receiver. "
The new test images will be in 441 scanning lines with
transmission at the rate of 30 complete images a second, pending
the final conclusions of the National Television Systems Committee.
The NBC television station will broadcast over the new
No. 1 television channel, 50-56 megacycles, which can be found on
most receivers in the New York area under No. 2 or No. 4 on the
station selector of the receiving set.
XXXXXXXXXX
WJJD AND WIND ON COMPETITIVE BASIS
Ralph Atlas s this week moves the studios and sales
office of WJJD and WIND to new headquarters on Michigan Avenue,
according to a news dispatch from Chicago.
Complete separation of offices for the WJJD, Chicago,
and the WIND, Gary- Chicago, outfits has been arranged by Mr.
Atlass so that the two stations will work on a strictly competi¬
tive basis.
XXXXXXXXXX
A poll of the Association of National Advertisers in
convention at White Sulphur Springs revealed that 56 percent of
the members who had set tentative budgets for 1941 expect to boost
their expenditures; 38 percent will spend approximately the same
ancunt as this year, and only 6 percent indicate a lowering of
budgets.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
- 12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
I
INDEX TO ISSUE OF OCTOBER 29, 1940
If Willkie Elected Believe Fly Will Be Swatted,
2
Communications Defense Board Gets Down To Biz
4
FCC All Ready To Clear FM .
No Evidence Of Sabotage In Crosley Fire..
Rockefeller Would Use More Radio With S.A
Robert E. Lee, Jr. Enlisted As Private...
1941 Offers 1200 Models . .
FCC Amends Amateur Rules Governing Radio.
Trade Notes . . . 9
American Cable And Radio Seeks Income Debentures . 10
Interference Problems Discussed By FCC Chief Engineer . 10
Senator Wheeler's Re-Election Seems Assured . 11
WOR Planning New Election Returns Method . 12
No. 1278
LO LO co co co
October 29, 1940
IF WILLKIE ELECTED BELIEVE FLY WILL BE SWATTED
Because of previous clashes when James Lawrence Fly, Chair-'
man of the Federal Communications Commission was a Department of
Justice trust-buster and later G-eneral Counsel for the Tennessee
Valley Authority, and Wendell L. Willkie was President of the Common¬
wealth and Southern, it was predicted that Mr. Fly would be among
those under fire if Mr. Willkie is elected President.
"Do you really think Mr. Willkie would land on Fly?” this
writer asked a well-informed friend.
“Land on him”, my friend retorted, “you don't know the
half of it, dearie! Why Willkie would stop off on his way back from
the Inauguration just to give himself the pleasure of firing Fly
personally. "
"Come, come", this writer replied, "of course Mr. Fly
might be demoted as Chairman, but he still could serve his term out -
he has two years to go. "
"The heck he could", my informant argued.
"You remember how President Roosevelt stubbed his toe try¬
ing to fire former Congressman William E. Humphrey from the Federal
Trade Commission and how the Supremo Court aroused the President’s
ire by backing up Humphrey. In the light of subsequent events, that
was more important than it seemed then as it was one of F. D. R. ’ s
first encounters with the Supreme Court. "
"Willkie would do it another way", my friend persisted.
"How?"
"He’d abolish the Commission. That would be easier than
bothering with personalities. It would be easy for him to secure the
necessary legislation. I believe he would abolish many Commissions
and unless I miss my guess, the Communications Commission headed by
his old enemy Fly would be among the first to get the axe. "
It is well known that Mr. Willkie has no love for Commis¬
sions.
"I am considering the method of administration by Commis¬
sions", Mr. Willkie wrote in the Saturday Evening Post in 1939.
Since the laws are concerned with very complex activities, the admin¬
istrative commissions were probably necessary. Laws governing wages
and hours or social security or public utilities or any other vast
national activity cannot possibly prescribe for every situation that
might arise; and so these commission are empowered to make the rules
- 2 -
10/29/40
that should apply. Obviously, this is dangerous. It involves a
subtle transfer of Government power. The rules of these executive
commissions are superseding the laws of Congress.
"From the standpoint of a businessman, there is a very
important difference between a congressional law and a commission
rule. The congressional law is fixed. It is down in black and white.
It is the same for everybody, and anybody can find out what it is. A
commission rule may be changed in twenty-four hours. It need not be
on paper at all. It can be varied to fit different cases. Under
the present commission regulation of industry, therefore, we have a
highly personal form of government - a government by caprice in which
the good will of a commission chairman may have a considerable effect
upon you and your business.
"The present network of Government bureaus regulating the
activities of employer and employees thus imposes a grave responsi¬
bility upon the regulators. The members of the commission who hold
in their hands such extraordinary power must exercise it so justly
that business and the public will have confidence in their administra¬
tion. Personal prejudice must not enter into their decisions, and
political influence must not warp their integrity. "
According to Lawrence Sullivan, in his new book "The Dead
Hand of Bureaucracy", which is causing such a stir just now in
Washington, exactly 124 new Federal agencies have been established
since President Roosevelt came into office. Among these was the
Federal Communications Commission, a successor to be sure, of the
Federal Radio Commission, but a bigger and better one. The old
Radio Commission only had five members but the FCC has seven at
$10,000 a year. The Radio Commission only had a handful of employees
but the FCC, a regular patronage Christmas tree, is now getting up
towards a thousand people. And, take it from this writer, very few
get on unless they are right politically.
The FCC appropriation in 1940 had climbed to $1,800,000
but in 1941 it will be $2,176,340 for the regular appropriation,
$1,600,000 added for National Defense, and $175,000 for the re-estab-
lishment of monitoring (checking foreign propaganda) stations - a
grand total of almost $4,000,000.
This, of course, is chicken- feed compared to other New Deal
expenditures but nevertheless it might be of some interest to Mr.
Willkie sweeping clean with a new broom. If he were elected
President, and the Commission continued, the first man up for re¬
appointment would be Frederick I. Thompson, Democrat, newspaper pub¬
lisher, of Mobile, Ala., whose term expires in 1941. Then comes Mr.
Fly in 1942. Following this, George Henry Payne, Republican, in
1943, campaign manager in New York for Hiram Johnson when the latter
ran for Vice-President. Mr. Payne, an old Bull Mooser, was also one
of the campaign managers in New York for President Theodore Roosevelt.
This would go good with Willkie probably, who was a great admirer of
’Teddy". Then comes Commander T.A.M. Craven, whose term expires in
1944, a Democrat, the best qualified man technically and in many ways
otherwise on the entire Commission. Norman S. Case, formerly
3
10/29/40
three-term Governor of Rhode Island, Republican, might be consider¬
ed for Chairman, if health permits. And finally, Paul A. Walker,
Democrat, Oklahoma trust buster whom Mr. Willkie would probably not
love because of Walker's investigation of the A. T. & T.
There is no question but what Walker would draw the new
President's fire, but it seems to be the general consensus of
opinion that Mr. Fly, described by a Washington columnist as the
"cockiest official who ever scuttled a royal economist's ship", and
described by many prominent broadcasters and radio manufacturers in
terms considerably worse, would be among the first to get preferred
presidential attention.
X X
X X X X X X
COMMUNICATIONS DEFENSE BOARD GETS DOWN TO BIZ
Members of the Defense Communications Board, the chief
function of which is to coordinate the relationship of all branches
of communication to the national defense, have pulled off their
coats and are getting down to work. They will have another meeting
next Monday. FCC Chairman James L. Fly is also Chairman of the
Defense Board and the other members are Maj. Gen. J. 0. Mauborgne,
Chief of the Signal Corps; Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes, Director of
Naval Communications; Breckenridge Long, Assistant Secretary of
State, and Herbert E. Gaston, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
in charge of Coast Guard.
The Board is now considering committees and what duties
they may undertake. Jurisdiction of the Board, in addition to
broadcasting, takes in commercial radio- telephone , radio-telegraph
as well as other telephone, telegraph and cable facilities. No
consideration is being given to radio programs as the Board has no
power of censorship or to take over any radio facilities. As yet
the new Board has hadno chance to study international programs.
Chairman Fly had a two hour conference with the British
Propaganda chief just before the meeting of the Defense Board last
Monday. Nothing was given out as to the actual discussion which
took place.
It was said that the recording of international station
broadcasts was considered adequate for the present. Script may be
called for the future but as this would impose a substantial burden
on broadcasters, recording would be considered sufficient at this
time.
xxxxxxxxxxx
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10/29/40
FCC ALL READY TO CLEAR FM
The final steps to pass on all pending Frequency Modulation
applications and to really get the thing going are exoected to be
taken by the Federal Communications Commission when they meet next
Friday (November 1).
There are about 50 of these so-called FM applications now
pending, mostly for high-powered stations in the 50 KW class planned
to cover large areas of copulation. Typical among the applicants
are WJR, Detroit; A. S. Abell, Baltimore; Don Lee System, Los
Angeles; Walker & Downing Radio Corporation, Pittsburgh; National
Broadcasting Company, Chicago, and General Electric Company, Schen¬
ectady.
Many more groups are known to be planning FM activity and
it is said that radio set manufacturers have set a sales goal of
at least 100,000 frequency modulation receivers for 1941 for use in
those areas covered by FM broadcasting.
XXXXXXXXXX
NO EVIDENCE OF SABOTAGE IN CROSLEY FIRE
Although investigation by insurance officials continued, no
further developments were reported after fire temporarily disrupted
operations of WLWO in Cincinnati, powerful internat ional short wave
sister station of WLW, early this week.
After the fire, three extra Warren County deputies were
stationed at the WLWO transmitter, which is located at Mason, Ohio,
20 miles north of Cincinnati. Ordinarily one deputy guards the site,
on ?/hich the WLW antenna and transmitter also are situated.
The fire occurred in a tuning house on the WLWO transmitter
grounds. Besides throwing the station off the air for more than 30
hours, the blaze destroyed equipment which was used in changing WLWO
from one frequency to another in order to be of maximum effectiveness
in reaching South American countries. Until new tuning equipment is
built, WLWO will operate only on 9,950 kilocycles, one of the six
international frequencies to which it has been assigned by the
Federal Communications Commission. Repairs will require about a
month.
Damage was estimated at M several thousand dollars” by
James D. Shouse, Vice-President of the Crosley Corporation in Charge
of Broadcasting. A more definite estimate was impossible, Mr.
Shouse said, because most of the equipment was specially built by
Crosley engineers in their own laboratory, instead of being purchas¬
ed as a unit.
XXXXXXXXXX
10/29/40
ROCKEFELLER WOULD USE MORE RADIO WITH S.A.
Radio will be one of the great mediums of removing the bar¬
riers to a better understanding in the Americas, Nelson A. Rockefeller
President of Radio City, and Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural
Relations between the American Republics, told the New York Herald
Tribune Forum.
"We must increasingly use the radio, the press and the
cinema to promote a more effective interchange of the finest in the
thought and action of both continents", Mr. Rockefeller declared.
"Appropriately, private enterprise is taking the leadership in this
great work. To assist in the task the Office of the Coordinator of
Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics was
established by the Council of National Defense. As the name implies,
the function of the Office is to coordinate the activities of the
many government and private agencies in both the commercial and
cultural fields. Furthermore, funds now available permit an intensi¬
fication of programs through existing media as well as the expansion
which is indicated by studies now in progress.
"These are times which call for clear thinking, effective
action. We must all unit in working for the Inter- American object¬
ive, national defense through hemisphere solidarity. Over and beyond
the many commercial problems with which we are concerned, the plans
of our Office call for the careful correlation of a well-knit expand¬
ed program in the several different cultural fields. Eminent leaders
in the arts and sciencies of our country will go to South American
schools and universities and, in turn, we hope soon to be welcoming
in greater numbers the leading scholars from the institutions of
learning in Central and South America. The two-way exchange of out¬
standing educators will be supplemented by research fellowships which
will permit more widespread investigations designed to assist both
continents in problems of agriculture, sanitation, health and in¬
dustrial engineering. Similarly we hope to stimulate an increase in
the exchange of the best technical and literary publications between
the various countries.
"Moving into other fields, our office will cooperate with
all of the broadcasting systems. Two of these systems will soon in¬
augurate 50,000 watt directional antenna stations for programs dedi
cated to Inter- American understanding. The motion picture industry
has been most resoonsive to our invitation to cooperate. The press
associations with an intensified hemisphere service will promote a
much needed two-way news coverage which will be supplemented by
special services in the fields of news pictures and magazines. "
XXXXXXXXX
A New York State resident wants authority to record certain
radio programs as they are broadcast to the public. The Federal Com
munications Commission replies that this does not come within its
jurisdiction, being a matter involving the private rights of the
radio station, the artists, and the sponsor of the program.
XXXXXXXXX
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10/29/40
ROBERT E. LEE, JR. ENLISTED AS PRIVATE
Apropos the criticism of Elliott Roosevelt, Texas broad¬
caster, son of President Roosevelt accepting a captaincy, a reader
of this service suggests that attention be given to the fact that
Robert E. Lee, Jr., youngest son of General Robert E. Lee enlisted
in the Confederate Army as a private. Only after a year of the
hardest kind of fighting did he win his promotion as a lieutenant.
There are several references to young Lee in the splendid biography
of Lee written by Douglas Southall Freeman (Charles Scribner’s Sons,
New York) .
Robert was intent on entering the Army, and General Lee
did not wish Robert to claim the exemption allowed students. Of
this Dr. Freeman wrote:
"fI must leave the rest in the hands of our merciful God”,
Lee told his wife. ‘I hope our son will do his duty and make a good
soldier. ’ The next day he went with Robert to get his outfit, with
which the boy left in a few days to join the Rockbridge Artillery as
a private. n
The next reference to young Lee by the noted Southern
historian was: "While awaiting developments (at the Chickahominy )
Lee rode over part of the ground of the previous day's action, work¬
ing his way toward the left, looking all the while for the Rockbridge
Artillery, with which his youngest son was serving as a private. He
had heard that the battery had followed Jackson; he did not know
whether Robert was dead or alive. Finally, in front of the McGhee
house, he found the battery, which had not been engaged in the action
of the 27th. A crowd gathered after Lee halted, but Robert was not
in it. Search discovered him so soundly asleep under a caisson that
calls did not arouse him. Only a vigorous prodding with a sponge
staff in the hands of a zealous comrade brought him out, at last,
half-dazed. He was well and unscathed, though much the worse for
dust and hard marching. Greetings exchanged, Lee rode away, and no¬
body seemed to think it in any way odd that the son of the commanding
general should be serving in the ranks. "
Another dramatic meeting of the great General and his sou
was described at the second battle of Manassas as follows:
"'General', said Captain Mason of the staff, when Lee at
last dropped his glasses, 'here is some one who wants to speak to
you. '
"Lee looked and saw a powder-blackened gunner, his sponge
staff in his hand. Ever since he had been asked for a chew of1 tobac¬
co by the raw private in western Virginia, he had been accustomed to
receive all manner of complaints and requests at unexoected places
from unknown members of the voluntary association known as the Army
of Northern Virginia; so there was no surprise in his voice when he
said, 'Well, my man, what can I do for you?'
"'Why, General', said the cannoneer in aggrieved and
familiar tones, 'don't you know me?'
"It was Robert. "
XXXXXXXX
- 7 -
;
10/29/40
1941 OFFERS 1200 MODELS
With 1200 different new radio- receiver models being offer¬
ed by the radio manufacturers of America, in their 1941 lines, a
tremendous variety of choice is made available for retail buyers,
just as the most important listening season in all radio's history
opens up, 0. H. Caldwell, editor of Radio Retailing writes.
"Looked at as a vast 'radio show’, these 1200 radio-set
offerings would fill the largest exposition building erected at
either of the recent World's Fairs", Mr. Caldwell continues. "Allow¬
ing four feet to a model, some 4,800 ft. of aisle displays would be
taken up, nearly a mile of continuous, un duplicated displays.1
"And for the radio buyer who undertook to inspect this
tremendous array of radio sets, if he allowed only two minutes for
the study and scrutiny of each model, he would have to plan on 2,400
minutes or 40 hours of unremitting seeing.' Taken in a succession of
evenings say from 8 to 10:30 p.m. , he would need two full weeks of
radio- show going, to make the rounds! "
xxxxxxxxxx
FCC AMENDS AMATEUR RULES GOVERNING RADIO
The Commission on October 22, 1940, modified for a tempor¬
ary period Section 12.93(a) of its Rules and Regulations so as to
permit an amateur station which is moved from one permanent location
to another permanent location prior to May 1. 1941, to be operated
at the latter location (in accordance with the provisions governing
portable stations) for a period not exceeding four months, but in
no event beyond the expiration date of the license; provided a pro¬
per application for modification of license is duly filed.
The Commission also amended, effective November 1, 1940,
Section 12.115 of the Rules Governing Amateur Radio by deleting the
frequency band 1800 to 2000 kilocycles for use of Type A3 emission
wherever it appears therein and by substituting therefor the fre¬
quency band 1800 to 2050 kilocycles.
The Commission has likewise amended, effective November 1,
1940, Section 12.155(b) of the Rules Governing Amateur Radio by
deleting the frequency band 1975 to 2000 kilocycles wherever it
appears therein and by substituting therefor the frequency band 2025
to 2050 kilocycles.
XXXXXXXXX
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10/29/40
TRADE NOTES
The license of Station WGY at Schenectady has been renewed,
and a hearing that was set to inquire into the new contractual rela¬
tions between the General Electric Company and the National Broad¬
casting Company has been cancelled pending action by the Federal
Communications Commission upon the entire subject of chain broadcast¬
ing.
Both the Republican and Democratic rallies at Madison
Square Garden, climaxes of party efforts to win the 1940 presidential
election, will be telecast experimentally in New York by the National
Broadcasting Company. President Roosevelt will address the Democrat¬
ic rally on the evening of October 28. The Republican meeting, on
November 2, will hear Wendell Willkie.
Tests are being made to establish a two-way municipal pol¬
ice radio in Philadelphia.
The Roanoke (Va. ) Broadcasting Company has been granted a
license to cover construction permit which authorized a new station
to operate on 1500 kc. , 250 watts, unlimited time.
W. C. Bridges, Manager of the Head of the Lakes Broadcast¬
ing Co. , writes to the General Electric Company, operators at W9XYH,
Duluth, "Public acceptance of frequency modulation (FM) broadcasting
in this locality has exceeded expectations. It is our opinion that
the listening public needs only a demonstration of FM to completely
sell them on the noise-free, high-fidelity advantages of this new
system. "
Fifty thousand watts power is sought by Station KIRO, Queen
City Broadcasting Co., Seattle, Washington. It is now using 10 KW.
As shown by the second Editor & Publisher Survey just com¬
pleted, President Roosevelt is favored by 289 daily newspapers, or
22.7$ as against 20.1$ in August. Mr. Willkie has 683 newspapers,
or 63.8$. Thirteen percent of the papers are not committed to either
candidate.
Station WSGN, of Birmingham, Ala. , has asked permission of
the Federal Communications Commission to increase its power from
250 to 1,000 watts and to broadcast on 610 kc.
XXXXXXXXXX
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AMERICAN CABLE AND RADIO SEEKS INCOME DEBENTURES
Frank W. Phelan, President of American Cable & Radio Cor¬
poration, announces that the Corporation, which holds all of the
Common Stock of All America Corporation, is prepared to invest up
to an aggregate amount of $250, 000 in Income Debentures, Series B,
of All America Corporation, and has issued an invitation for tenders
of the Series B Income Debentures and of Scrip Certificates represent¬
ing fractional interests therein. American Cable & Radio Corporation
heads the group of companies controlling the communication systems of
All America Cables and Radio, Inc., the Commercial Cable Company and
the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Companies.
Debentures of Series B are presently outstanding in the
amount of $1,013,500. In addition there are outstanding $2,043,600
of Income Debentures, Series A, All America Corporation having retir¬
ed since the original issue the $1,250,000 of the SeriesA Debentures
required to be retired before the application of funds by that
Corporation to the redemption of Debentures of Series B.
xxxxxxxxx
INTERFERENCE PROBLEMS DISCUSSED BY FCC CHIEF ENGINEER
E. K. Jett, Chief Engineer of the Federal Communications
Commission, talks on "Radio Interference Problems" when he is guest
speaker on "Adventures in Science" over Columbia network on Thursday,
October 31 (WABC-CBS, 3:45 to 3:55 P.M., EST).
Mr. Jett will be heard from the studios of WJSV, Columbia's
station for the nation's capital.
The FCC official plans to describe the various kinds of
interference possible in radio. First, there is interference of one
station with another. This is taken c are of through international
and government regulation, by assigning the stations to separate
frequencies.
The second type of interference is caused by nature —
thunder storms or electric discharges, static or atmospheric dis¬
turbances.
The third type of interference is industrial — electrical
or man-made. It is caused by electric devises used in industry or
the home.
XXXXXXXX
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SENATOR WHEELER'S RE-ELECTION SEEMS ASSURED
Reports from Montana are that Senator Burton K. Wheeler,
Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Committee, and a power in radio
matters in the Senate, will be re-elected by a large majority.
Gould Lincoln, political correspondent of the Washington Star now
touring the United States, writes from Helena:
"The most powerful Democratic figure in Montana - so far
as vote getting is concerned - is Senator Wheeler. An original
Roosevelt man when the President was striving for his first nomina¬
tion, Senator Wheeler broke with the administration seriously in 1937
and led the Senate fight against the Supreme Court bill. After that
fight the New Dealers decided to go after Mr. Wheeler's scalp. An
effort was made to buildup former Representative Jerry O'Connell
with the idea that O'Connell was the man to take Wheeler's measure
and his seat in the Senate in 1940. Senator Wheeler did not wait
for 1940 to roll around. He went right after O'Connell in 1938 and
allied Gov. Roy E. Ayres with him. The upshot was the election of
Representative Thorkelson, a Republican, in Mr. O'Connell's place.
New Deal plans to 'purge' Senator Wheeler went up in smoke.
"This year, Senator Wheeler declared himself against a
third term for President Roosevelt or any man. He became a presi¬
dential candidate himself, but withdrew his name before the balloting
began in Chicago, as soon as it became definitely known the President
would run. He announced he would go along with the party nominee.
There is grave doubt out here, however, that Senator Wheeler will do
any work for the presidential ticket.
"Running against Senator Wheeler on the Republican ticket
is E. K. Cheadle, Jr., of Shelby, an attorney. Mr. Cheadle is a
Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard and is now on active duty
in Washington. He is not campaigning in the State, leaving that
job to the Republican leaders here. The senatorial contest brings
into opposition two classes of thought on the present national
defense program - represented by Wheeler, who opposed the conscrip¬
tion bill and who has attacked much of the foreign policy of the
President, and by Mr. Cheadle, who is a supporter of the defense pro¬
gram. There is a wide difference of opinion as to how popular or
unpopular the conscription bill is in this State.
"No one, however, gives Mr. Cheadle the slightest chance
to win over Senator Wheeler, who is regarded as a sure winner no
matter what else happens in the . election. That is the view frankly
given by Republican leaders speaking 'off the record', as well as
the view of the Democrats. "
Writing from the State of Washington, Mr. Lincoln has this
to say about former Senator Dill, co-author of the old Radio Act:
"In the gubernatorial race, the youthful Mayor of Seattle,
Arthur B. Langlie, elected a few years ago because the people were
sick of the kind of government they were getting, together with
11 -
10/29/40
incessant labor strife, has been nominated by the Republicans. The
Democratic nominee is former Senator Clarence C. Dill, who left the
Senate in 1934. Mr. Dill is given the edge. He is a good campaigner.
However, some of the Democrats who supported Governor Martin, regard¬
ed as a conservative, may swing to Mayor Langlie. Mr. Dill won over
the Governor in a hot primary race. Four years ago many Republicans
voted in the primary for Governor Martin, prefering him to his
Democratic and radical opponent. Many republicans voted in this
year’s primary for Governor Martin, hoping to defeat Mr. Dill for
the nomination, but were unable to pull it off.11
Reports from Indiana are that Senator Minton (D), a member
of the Interstate Commerce Committee, who has shown considerable
interest in radio, may be defeated by the heavy Willkie tide which
seems to be prevailing there at this writing.
WOR PLANNING NEW ELECTION RETURNS METHOD
Listeners to this year’s election returns over WOR will
no longer have to wrestle mentally with a trickle of votes from in¬
complete election districts. A completely different method of handl¬
ing returns has been devised which it is believed will revolutionize
the giving of election returns over the air, according to a WOR
Press statement.
Under the supervision of Dave Driscoll, WOR Director of
Special Features and News, and his assistant, Alvin Josephy, a plan
has been set up whereby listeners will be able to determine instantly
who is leading the presidential race.
In place of the former "so many election districts out of
so many give John Blank 100,000 votes and John Double Blank 125,000”,
the new streamlined WOR method will deal with percentages and ratios
in terms of States only. Thus, the announcer will say:
"At 7 P.M. with 2% of the votes in New York State already
tabulated, John Doe leads Joe Smith by 100,000 votes or a ratio of
2 to 1. ” It will be as simple as that with States being mentioned
in place of election districts. Comparisons with 1932 and 1936 will
also be included.
The election returns over WOR will make use of United
Press news. They have already been sold to a sponsor who will use
ten five-minute periods which will be supplemented by other bulle¬
tins of importance.
XXXXXXXXX
12 -
} "’:v t/i
4' Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 1, 1940
FCO Licenses Fifteen "Staticless" Stations . 2
Rockefeller Adds Two More To Cultural Staff . 3
Wireless Loud Speaker Experimentation . . 3
FCC Reports Television Progress . 4
Mutual Announcer Hears Own Draft Number Called . 5
Still Trying To C-et Wheeler To Work For FDR . 6
Another New Washington Station . 6
Special Meeting Called To Spike Diathermy Interference . 7
FTC Issues Stipulation Order . 8
Trade Notes . 9
New Accounting System For Telegraph And Cable Carriers . 10
FCC Attorneys' Applications Approved . 11
Again The Roosevelt Radio Earnings . 11
"We Third Termers" Quips Mr. Fly . 12
Limitation Statute In RCA Suit Dismissal . 12
No. 1279
FCC LICENSES FIFTEEN "STATICLESS" STATIONS
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday start¬
ed a new industry in the radio broadcasting field with the grant¬
ing of 15 licenses to operate frequency modulation stations on a
commercial basis. These permits were the first to be granted since
the FCC provided 35 channels between 43,000 and 50,000 kilocycles
for FM service and adopted rules to govern the operation of the
staticless stations.
Frequency modulation, dubbed FM in the trade, by making
use of bands in the extreme high range of frequencies, performs
with "bell-like clarity", its sponsors claim. It is said to be
entirely free from static, to offer a much wider tone range than
standard broadcasting and to permit more stations on the same
channels without interference. The last-mentioned asset opens up
a new field for broadcasting, which has long clogged the present
standard broadcast band.
Its chief drawback, as brought out at FCC hearings, is
that its short radius of 50 miles restricts its use, at least for
the present, to urban areas, listeners in rural sections out of
range of the broadcasting stations being forced to rely on stand¬
ard broadcasts.
FM will require new receiving sets and special broadcast¬
ing equipment, all of which, the FCC feels, will contribute to
employment and to trade.
The new stations are widely scattered geographically and
are designed to service millions of listeners with the new type of
radio transmission. Three are in New York City. Thirty-six more
applications are pending and others are expected to pour in shortly.
The pioneer FM commercial licensees and location of the
authorized stations are:
Detroit - The Evening News Association; Los Angeles -
Don Lee Broadcasting System; Baton Rouge - Baton Rouge Broadcast¬
ing Co.; Salt Lake City - Radio Service Corporation of Utah;
Chicago - Zenith Radio Corporation; Mt. Washington, N. H. - The
Yankee Network; Milwaukee - The Journal Co. ; New York City -
National Broadcasting Co. , William G-. H. Finch, Marcus Loew
Booking Agency; Evansville, Ind. - Evansville On the Air, Inc.;
Binghamton, N. Y. - Howitt-Wood Radio Co. , Inc. ; Brooklyn, N.Y. -
Frequency Broadcasting Corp. ; Columbus, Ohio - WBNS, Inc.;
Schenectady, N. Y. - Capitol Broadcasting Co. , Inc.
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On the basis of testimony by engineers of both the radio
manufacturing and the broadcast industries, the Commission heralds
the business debut of FM as inviting public demand for service
and sets, which will have a stimulating effect on programming as
well as on the purchase and maintenance of new equipment.
At the same time, FCC officials pointed out that there
is no likelihood that FM broadcasting will develop so rapidly
that present-day standard receivers will become obsolete.
XXXXXXXXX
ROCKEFELLER ADDS TWO MORE TO CULTURAL STAFF
Nelson A. Rockefeller, President of Radio City, and
Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Relations between the
American Republics, has announced the addition of Karl August
Bickel and Don Francisco to his Committee on Communications.
John H. (Jock) Whitney and James W. Young had been pre¬
viously named to the Committee; Mr. Young serves as Chairman.
The Committee will execute the radio, news, motion
picture and related phases of the program drafted by the Office
of Coordination.
Mr. Bickel, of Sarasota, Fla. , served as President of
the United Press from 1923-35 and is Chairman of the Board of
the Scripps-Howard Radio Company. Mr. Francisco, of New York
City, has resigned and taken leave of absence as President of
Lord and Thomas, advertising agency, to assume his Government
assignment.
XXXXXXXXX
WIRELESS LOUD SPEAKER EXPERIMENTATION
As a result of hearing, the Federal Communications Com¬
mission has ordered a grant of a construction permit to Guy S.
Cornish of Cincinnati, Ohio, for a new high frequency experimental
station to operate on 310,000 kilocycles, with power of I watt,
and type A3 emission. The applicant proposed to develop facil¬
ities for the transmission of aural signals between the announcer
or speaker at public gatherings and the loud speaker system in
instances where it is not possible or practical to use microphone
cable .
The permit is granted upon an experimental basis only,
subject to change or cancelation at any time, and upon further
condition that no interference shall be caused to other radio
service.
XXXXXXXX
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FCC REPORTS TELEVISION PROGRESS
Following a meeting between James L. Fly, Chairman of
the Federal Communications Commission, and W. R. G. Baker, of the
General Electric Company, Chairman of the National Television
Systems Committee, it was announced that considerable progress
was being made in the effort to arrive at an agreement with regard
to television standards by January 1. A particular effort is
being made to accomplish this for not until standards have beet
set can the "go ahead” signal be given to the industry.
In this connection, the FCC has announced that it will
confer with the NTSC early in January for the purpose of receiving
a progress report on that Committee’s study of the television
situation.
The Commission will hear the Chairman of the Committee
and the various Panel Chairmen, but will not call for recommenda¬
tions as to whether standards should be fixed at that time.
The conference, which will not be in the nature of a
hearing, will be held in Washington at a date to be announced later
and will be open to the public.
Although Chairman Fly evidently has the manufacturers
pretty badly worried by his enthusiasm over television in color,
it was said the Commission as yet has had no engineering report on
it. There seems to be two schools of thought with regard to intro¬
ducing television images in color as against black and white. One
is that it will be tremendously more difficult and expensive and
will slow up the effort. On the other hand, a high Government
official expressed the opinion to this writer that rather than
color slowing things up quite the contrary - the introduction of
color would stimulate it.
That the Columbia Broadcasting System had already spent
a million and a half dollors in color television experimentation
was revealed this week in a spirited reply Paul W. Kesten, Vice-
President, made to a story in Variety. Mr. Kesetn wrote, in part,
as follows:
w Variety says: 'It is doubtful that as things now stand,
RCA could justify new huge experimental program expenditures to
its stockholders. ' CBS, of course, has frankly no intention of
doing anything more than 'shadow-boxing. '
"The facts are that CBS has expended to date over
Si, 500, 000 in television, has built and equipped the largest tele¬
vision studio in America, has created and tested hundreds of
television programs, but has consistently refused to broadcast
them as 'bait' to sell consumers expensive receiving sets until
technical standards had sufficiently 'jelled' to protect the con¬
sumer against radical change which might make sets useless.
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"CBS has done all this up-hill. It has found the best
camera equipment in England or America not good enough to do the
job it wants to do, not good enough to give television a lusty
start as a new art. CBS engineers have designed and ordered
better equipment, have already waited 14 months to get it, have
produced color television without it.
11 Variety reports about CBS: ’Recently when its one man
engineering department, Peter Goldmark, rushed in a demonstration
of color television . . . the immediate result was to steal the
show from RCA-NBC. ’
"The facts are: CBS has a 47-man full-time television
organization, a 25-man television engineering personnel. Dr.
Goldmark may or may not be the most able inventive engineer in
television ranks - he could not alone have produced color tele¬
vision after hundreds of engineers in the vast laboratories of
equipment manufacturers had abandoned hope that it could be done
in the limited six megacycle ’width’ of present television channels.
Full credit is due him and his compact but talented staff for hav¬
ing lifted television out of its drab grays into full and glorious
color, perhaps lifting all television, in this process, from a
defeatist slough to a sound, sure-footed optimism.
"As for Variety’ s statement that: ’Faced with the
Government philosophy that all must wait for the slowest among
them and with no plausible way of getting back any portion of an
already staggering investment in television, RCA is understood to
be loath to go beyond routine programs such as are recommencing. . . ’
Whatever may or may not be Government philosophy, the net result
of deferring ’commercial television broadcasting has been to per¬
mit the swiftest, not the slowest, to lead. "
xxxxxxxx
MUTUAL ANNOUNCER HEARS OWN DRAFT NUMBER CALLED
Stephen McCormick, 26-year old Mutual Broadcasting System
announcer, was describing the dramatic scene in the Departmental
Auditorium in Washington, and interviewing selective s and their
relatives over a coast-to-coast hook-up, when a fellow announcer
tugged at his sleeve.
"Isn’t your number 105?" asked Walter Compton.
"Yes, why?" McCormick whispered back. Mr. Compton point¬
ed at the blackboard on which the numbers were being listed. No.
105 was the nineteenth drawn. So one announcer interviewed another
on how it feels when the Government gets your number.
"I’m proud to be called", said Mr. McCormick.
A native of Taunton, Mass. , Mr. McCormick has been a
Washington resident for six years. He is chief announcer for WOL.
XXXXXXXX
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STILL TRYING TO GET WHEELER TO WORK FOR FDR
The following observation regarding Senator Wheeler,
radio leader in the Senate, is made by Ray Tucker of the McClure
Newspaper Syndicate:
"New Deal strategists are still coaxing Burton K. Wheeler
to declare for F. D.R. and campaign for the national ticket in areas
where ‘Old Bob’ LaFollette 1 s 1924 running mate carries vast influ¬
ence. But the Montana man recently inserted in the Congressional
Record a magazine article which will discount any last-minute
switch. It appeared in Foreign Affairs, and is entitled: ’National
Defense - Plan or Patchwork. ’
,MOur Congress’, it said, ’is not willing to write a
blank check in respect to grants of power, and I do not think we
should blame Congress. It encounters vagueness in high places.
It knows that in June its adjournment was proposed, and that now
there is much work for it to do. But Congressional delays or even
refusals will not be decisive. The President of the United States
has emergency powers already granted that give him, as Commander- in-
Chief, sufficient freedom of action - to make or mar his reputation
and perhaps save or sacrifice the country.
"’If we go the way of France, no one will be able to
blame it on Congress. It has been generous, almost profligate, in
granting money and, within the limitations it has imposed, there
is ample authority for the spenders to be intelligent. Likewise
there can be no legislative barrier to their intelligence. * And
that’s just how the Senator talks in private.”
XXXXXXXXXX
ANOTHER NEW WASHINGTON STATION
Washington's radio stations soon will have a new member,
it was disclosed this week when the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion approved application of the Capital Broadcasting Co.
The new station, assigned a wave length of 1420 kilo¬
cycles, 250 watts power, will be located at Pierce and North Capi¬
tol Sts. , North East, with a second booster tower on the East-West
Highway between Bethesda and Silver Springs, Md. Stanley Horner,
District auto dealer; former F. T. C. Auto Consultant Dyke Cullum,
and Ed Spence, former WBAL (Baltimore) Manager, head the venture.
Construction will commence soon and the station will be
ready about January 1. It will be on an 18-hour schedule and
feature only local talent and events.
Meanwhile, Station WINX, operating on a frequency of 1310
kilocycles, plans to start schedules within the next few days.
Headed by Washington Attorney Lawrence Heller, WINX is at Eighth and
I Streets, Northwest, with a synchronized booster station on Ameri¬
can University campus. It, too, will feature only local affairs.
Reggie Martin has been named General Manager.
XXXXXXXX -6-
11/1/40
SPECIAL MEETING CALLED TO SPIKE DIATHERMY INTERFERENCE
Because of the interference of electro-medical apparatus
with National Defense communication, as well as the trouble it
gives to broadcasting in general, the Federal Communications Com¬
mission has scheduled an informal engineering conference in
Washington on Friday, November 29, to facilitate establishing
particular frequencies for the exclusive use of such apparatus.
The sessions will be presided over by Chief Engineer E. K. Jett,
who has made a thorough study of the subject and who is largely
responsible for its consideration at this time.
It is through the cooperation of interested individuals
and groups that the Commission hopes to adjust the technical pro¬
blems in connection with operation of high frequency electro¬
medical equipment. Such effort, it points out, is in keeping with
views expressed at the Inter- American Radio Communications Arrange¬
ment signed at Santiago, Chile, last January.
"The serious nature of diathermy interference was first
brought to my attention in 1935 when commercial and government
communication agencies began to experience interference on the
high frequencies used for long distance communication", Commander
Jett said, in a recent broadcast. "The disturbances were at first
attributed to stations operated by persons under the jurisdiction
of foreign governments. The severity of the interference increas¬
ed rapidly and agencies such as the Army, Navy and the commercial
operating companies, cooperated with the Federal Communications
Commission in an extensive search for the source of the inter¬
ference. The signals were observed to shift from one spot on the
dial to another without, of course, any call signal or other identi¬
fying characteristics. Observations indicated that the signals
emanated from points far removed from the receiving stations.
"An investigation finally disclosed that the interfer¬
ence was caused by diathermy machines operated in medical centers
and offices of private physicians. Radiations from one of these
machines located in the vicinity of Boston were controlled by an
ordinary telegrapher's key and the signals thus emitted in the
international Morse code were easily read in Washington, D. C. ,
and at Great Lakes, Ill. , near Chicago. Since that time inter¬
ference has rapidly increased as more and more diathermy machines
have been brought into use by the medical profession.
"Local interference of radio programs is not our great¬
est cause for concern. The transmissions from diathermy machines
are capable of being received across the continent and even across
the ocean. The frequencies upon which they operate are used by
the national defense and safety services. Interruptions of these
services may jeopardize life or property, or seriously affect the
nation's interests.
"I wish to emphasize that the Federal Communications
Commission recognizes the importance of electro-medical apparatus
7
li/1/40
to the medical profession in the treatment of human ills. As a
matter of fact, the Inter-American Radio Communications Arrange¬
ment signed at Santiago, Chile, in January of this year, specifi¬
cally states that the use of diathermy apparatus has an important
place in therapeutics, surgery and industry. The immediate prob¬
lem, therefore, is how may the public enjoy the benefits of radio
communication as well as those resulting from the use of electro¬
medical apparatus without conflict between these services.
•'The Commission has been studying this problem for sever¬
al years and has received excellent cooperation from the Council
on Physical Therapy of the American Medical Association and other
interested parties. A number of states and municipalities have
enacted statutes and ordinances to deal with the subject. How¬
ever, the general problem of interference has been approached by
the Commission from the point of view that the public as a whole
will be best served through cooperation in the industry. The
Commission believes that through further cooperation it will be
able to adopt standards of good engineering practice to guide manu¬
facturers and users of electrical equipment and thus prevent radio
interference. "
XXXXXXXXX
FTC ISSUES STIPULATION ORDER
George's Radio Company, Inc., 814 F Street, N. W. ,
Washington, D. C. , a corporation, engaged in selling merchandise,
including radio receiving sets together with cabinets in which the
sets are housed, has stipulated with the Federal Trade Commission
to cease and desist from stating or representing that its products
have a "factory1' or "list" price of $99.95, or any other designated
price, when in fact the designated price is fictitious or in ex¬
cess of or is other than the price for which the products are
customarily sold in the usual course of retail trade.
Also it has stipulated to cease and desist from use of
the phrase "More Than 1/2 Off", or "Reduced $60" in connection
with the offered retail selling price of $39.95, or in any other
way so as to import or imply that the regular or customary retail
selling price of the products is $99.95 or that the price of $39.95
is a special price or is less than one-half of the customary sales
price or is $60 less than the customary sales price or is other
than the regular or customary retail sales price of the products.
Likewise refrain from use of the word "Grunow" as an escutcheon on
cabinets housing radio receiving sets so as to import or imply that
the radio receiving sets were made or manufactured by Grigsby-
Grunow Corporation, formerly of Chicago; and from use of the word
"Grunow" in any way, the effect of which tends or may tend to mis¬
lead or deceive the purchasing or consuming public as to the
origin, size, capacity, make, manufacture, brand or type of the
sets.
XXXXXXXXXX
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11/1/40
In outward appearance looking like any other automobile
and having no identifying marks, a specially built car now carries
the Federal Communications Commission’s new directional locating
apparatus on its detection tours. The apparatus can, by moving
from place to place, locate any "bootleg” radio station to within
100 yards. Simultaneously cylinders record broadcasts.
Crosley Corporation and Subsidiaries - Nine months to
Sept. 30: Net loss, subject to audit, $509,910, compared with
net profit last year of §158,376, or 29 cents a share, on 545,800
capital shares.
The Mutual Broadcasting System will have a total of 159
stations in its network when three 250-watt Virginia stations
become affiliated with the chain on Monday. They are WLVA, Lynch¬
burg, 120 kc. ; WBTM, Danville, Va. , 1370 kc. , WSLS, Roanoka, Va. ,
1500 kc.
As a feature of the twentieth anniversary of the begin¬
ning of regular daily radio programs, Dr. Frank Conrad, and the man
credited with having first used the word "broadcast" in connection
with radio, will be the guest of Musical Americana, Thursday,
November 7, at 10:30 P.M., EST, over the NBC-Red Network.
i
Frank Mullen, Vice-President and General Manager of the
National Broadcasting Company and founder of the Farm and Home
Hour, was the principal speaker at the Fifteenth Anniversary of
agricultural broadcasting on Station WGY, Schenectady. _ _
Employment has increased at such a fast pace in the
Cincinnati area that it has been found necessary for radio station
WSAI to replace its "I Want A Job" program with a weekly news sum¬
mary, due to the scarcity of competent persons now without Employ¬
ment. ***:>■ ■
WOR will record off the line several major Mutual night¬
time shows which cannot be fitted into WOR’ s evening schedule and
will re broadcast these programs during daytime house. As a result,
WOR listeners will now be able to hear "In Chicago Tonight" a
Thursday night Mutual variety show from Chicago, every Friday
morning at 10:30 A.M. "Lew Loyal", a Friday evening dramatic
series, will have its matinee performance on WOR at 5:15 every
Tuesday; Similarly, each episode of "Ned Jordan, Secret Agent"
heard on Tuesday nights, will be recorded Saturday mornings at
8:30 A.M.
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11/1/40
NEW ACCOUNTING SYSTEM FOR TELEGRAPH AND CABLE CARRIERS
A revised uniform system of accounts for wire- tele graph
and ocean-cable carriers was adopted this week by the Federal
Communications Commission, to go into effect January 1, 1942.
Giving recognition to changes of operation in that in¬
dustry and to the progress of accounting generally, the new system
supplants the one made effective by the Interstate Commerce Com¬
mission in 1914, which has been found impractical of application
to many present-day operations.
The variations from the old system are generally recog¬
nized as warranted by the carriers and by the National Association
of Railroad and Utilities Commissioners, which is representative
of State public utility bodies. They are funda.men tally the same
as those contained in the system of accounts prescribed by the
Commission for telephone and radiotelegraph carriers. The pre¬
scribed system is the result of studies initiated by the former
Telegraph Division of the Commission and thereafter developed by
the Accounting, Statistical and Tariff Department. It conforms
to Government accounting principles.
The revised rules provide, through prescribed segrega¬
tion, for instant determination of the extent to which variations
in revenue, expenses, and other elements of net income are attribut¬
able to changes in the rates of foreign currency exchange. This
provision is considered sufficiently flexible to provide appropri¬
ate accounting for transactions involving foreign currencies under
stabilized conditions as well as under present conditions of ramp¬
ant fluctuation in the rates of exchange.
The new rules provide further for the segregation,
among the charges against income, of amounts, if any, paid to other
carriers or persons, on basis of the revenue or traffic volume of
the accounting company, when the payee has not incurred any expense
or participated in the service upon which the charge has been bas¬
ed. The revision also seeks to provide in general design for such
future changes as can reasonably be anticipated.
The effective date was set in order to give the carriers
a reasonable time in which to make accounting reclassifications
accordingly.
XXXXXXXX
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11/1/40
FCC ATTORNEYS1 APPLICATIONS APPROVED
Applications for the following attorneys to practice
before the Federal Communications Commission, approved by the Bar
Committee on October 25, 1940, were approved by the Commission
this week:
Thad H. Brown, former member of the Federal Communications
Commission, Washington, D. C. ; Arthur W. A. Cowan, Philadelphia,
Pa. ; Sam L. Collins, Fullerton, Calif. ; Gerald J. Meindl, Portland,
Ore.; James S. McCluer, Parkersburg, W. Va. ; David Elden Tolman,
Washington, D. C. ; George H. Toole, Boston, Mass. , and Philip M.
Traynor.
XXXXXXXXXX
AGAIN THE ROOSEVELT RADIO EARNINGS
In his syndicated column, Westbrook Pegler writes:
"It is often said, on what basis I do not know, that
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt gives all of her earnings to charity. I
have never heard or read any announcement to this effect and sus¬
pect that those who believe this to be true have carelessly mis¬
construed the announcement of several years ago that she was
donating to charity the proceeds of her radio orations only.
"According to John T. Flynn’s figures in his book, "A
Country Squire in the White House", Mrs. Roosevelt would have had
$750,000 over and above her radio income. And even if it is true
that she gives most or all of this to charity, the question still
is not what Mrs. Roosevelt does with the money but to what extent
the presidential office figures in the calculations of those who
pay it. Moreover, Mrs. Roosevelt need not give away a dime of
this income. By her precedent, another First Lady could make as
much or more by her work and showmanship and keep it all.
"John N. Garner stated the correct position when, early
in the first term of the New Deal, in rejecting an offer of $1,500
a week for radio work, he said that if the sponsor was trying to
hire the Vice President of the United States, the price was too
little, and if he was trying to hire John Gamer, it was much too
much.
"It is conceded that Elliott Roosevelt participated in
negotiations before the Communications Commission which yielded him
a profit of extraordinary size for a boy of his years at the time,
and it has since been said by his own representative that he has
been earning an income of $1,000 a week as a broadcaster. "
XXXXXXXX
11
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11/1/40
S'
"WE THIRD TERMERS" QUIPS MR. FLY
Some comment has been caused by James L. Fly, Chairman
of the Federal Communications Commission, allegedly beginning a
talk to radio manufacturers in New York by saying "We Third Termers
have been under considerable fire lately".
This remark was construed to refer (a) to the criticism
of President Roosevelt in the present campaign, and (b) the recent
dressing down Mr. Fly himself received in the Saturday Evening
Post. Also it would seem to indicate that Mr. Fly felt that he
was pretty well entrenched in his present position.
XXXXXXXXXX
LIMITATION STATUTE IN RCA SUIT DISMISSAL
Supreme Court Justice Bernard L. Shientag dismissed last
Tuesday in New York the major causes of action in an accounting
suit brought by Rose Druckerman and eleven other stockholders of
the Radio Corporation of America. They had charged conspiracy by
present and former directors of the corporation with the General
Electric Company and the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing
Company to defraud R. C. A. for the benefit of the other companies.
Justice Shientag ruled that the six-year statute of
limitations applied to the causes of action which he dismissed.
These included the major portion of the $500,000,000 losses alleg¬
ed in the suit to have resulted from negligence and conspiracy on
the part of the directors of R. C.A.
Justice Shientag specifically ruled out charges that RCA
paid $82,000,000 more than the book value of assets in acquiring
the Victor Talking Machine Company, Inc. , in 1929, and lost
$10,000,000 in a subsequent deal with General Electric and West¬
inghouse concerning the manufacturing properties of Victor.
Another charge dismissed was that RCA paid at least $170,000,000
too much in 1930 for exclusive patent rights of General Electric
and Westinghouse, the exclusive feature of which subsequently was
cancelled.
Justice Shientag ruled out also charges of excessive
payments before 1930 to General Electric and Westinghouse, alleged
losses through underwriting of certain Radio- Kei th-Orpheum deben¬
tures, payment of allegedly improper dividends and fees for "ficti¬
tious services" before 1932 and wrongful profits in 1928 by dir¬
ectors from trading in Victor stock.
XXXXXXXXX
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
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INDEX TO ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 5, 1940
U. S. Puts More Steam On Its Short-Wave Programs .
Antenna Measurement Time Extended . . .
CBS Orders Powerful Mackay Foreign Service Transmitters
Sixty Percent Non-Met. Dailies Omit Programs .
Burglars Turn Into Radio Song Writers .
C. I.O. Loses Radio Plea To FCC .
FM Off To Good Geographical Start . 7
Campaign Broadcasts Estimated $1,500,000 . 9
She Told It To The Marine! . 9
Trade Notes . 10
RCA Up Sharply To $98,204,219 . 11
Searching Congressional Library For Educational Radio Material.. 11
No. 1280
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November 5, 1940
U.S. PUTS MORE STEM ON ITS SHORT-WAVE PROGRAMS
Beginning with this weeks issue, several changes for the
better have been made in the printing of the consolidated programs
of the United States short-wave stations by John H. Payne, Chief of
the Electrical Division, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
Heretofore, these programs, which are published by the
Commerce Department and distributed by the Division of International
Communications of the State Department, of which Thomas Burke is
Chief, were issued in two sections - one for Europe and the other
for Latin America. They now go out in one section weekly, the
European program on the left-hand page each day opposite the Latin-
American program on the right-hand page, so that the whole thing
may be seen at a glance and, if desired, the hours compared.
The changes include a new title which reads in bold- face
type "U.S.A. SHORT WAVE RADIO PROGRAMS" and there is an attractive
revised design on the cover sheet, a combination of the Commerce
Department's seal and radio beams flashing to Europe and Latin
America. Large titles are put at the top of each sheet to make
sure of no mixup on the part of anyone who has been accustomed to
dealing with the programs separately. Asia programs are shown on
the back.
The following note appears on the f ront cover:
"This program service is designed primarily for use in
newspapers and other periodical publications, and is made available
to them through the Commercial Attaches, Trade Commissioners and
the Consular Officers of the United States. They may also be made
available to others having a particular interest in short-wave
reception from the U.S.A."
The Radio Manufacturers' Association compiles the programs
but the idea of a consolidated U. S. short-wave program to be dis¬
tributed by the Government to newspapers throughout the world origi¬
nated with Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. , President of the Zenith
Radio Corporation of Chica.go.
The companies whose programs are distributed are the
Columbia Broadcasting System; General Electric Company; National
Broadcasting Company; WCAU Broadcasting Company, Philadelphia;
World Wide Broadcasting Foundation, Boston; Crosley Corporation,
Cincinnati, and Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company.
- 2 -
11/5/40
There are three essential functions in international broad¬
casting:
First, technical perfection, which involves the use of
adequate power and equipment. The Federal Communications Commission
is now requiring that all United States international short-wave
broadcasting be operated with a minimum of 50 kilowatts. This is
a first essential for unless a broadcast can be well heard, it will
have very limited utility.
Second, the selection of suitable programs and the artist¬
ic or effective presentation of them is vital. For even though pro¬
grams might be easily heard, only those will listen who are enter¬
tained or interested. The tuning knob is the individual’s censor.
Nothing gets by it without the listener's permission.
Third, publicity is necessary even for the good things
which are readily available. You must tell your prospective listen¬
ers when and where (at what frequency) they can hear the things in
which they may be interested. This third item is the reason for
distributing short-wave programs throughout the world.
If it is assumed that all American international broad¬
casters are supplying programs of interest that can be well heard,
then the importance of having all the programs scheduled together
becomes evident. Otherwise the listener cannot choose except by
habit the program which will interest him most. The significance
of this is evident when it is known that there are as many as eight
programs beamed on Latin America at the same time by United States
short-wave broadcasters. Also the listener must choose between
these and the programs offered from London, Berlin, Rome, Moscow
and any others which may be available at the same time.
The character of the U. S. shortwave programs is most
important. It is believed by good authorities that a large part
of our programs, as designed for home consumption, are not suitable
for international broadcasts and that too many of them at present
are so used. Using a few of the best of these is no doubt appreci¬
ated by some beside the few Americans living abroad. Practically
all should be especially prepared or very carefully selected for
reception by the natives in other countries. Further, it should be
much more effective if we were to provide only three or four such
carefully prepared programs simultaneously, rather than eight or
more of which only a few are appropriate. Such a reduction in quant¬
ity with a corresponding increase in quality would also simplify and
so increase the effectiveness of the program schedule. Greater free
publicity for these program schedules and increased reference to
them would thus be secured, if they could be substantially reduced
in size and complexity.
These U. S. short-wave programs are being used effectively
in a way other than for newspaper and periodical publicity. It will
be realized that ships which are any distance at sea can seldom hear
the programs on our standard domestic broadcast wave lengths. They
are dependent on short-wave reception.
■ ‘ v > :
11/5/40
Accordingly, these programs are used on practically all
passenger ships operating in the Western Hemisphere and are avail¬
able to freighters which request them. It is conceivable that in
times of emergencies, the ability to tune in on the several news
services, which are conspicuously marked by capitalization in the
programs, should provide helpful information to the captain in
determining his movements.
XXXXXXXX
ANTENNA MEASUREMENT TIME EXTENDED
The Rules and Regulations Governing Standard Broadcast
Stations (Section 3 . 51(a) ( 2)} now requires that all standard broad¬
cast stations on and after December 1, 1940, determine the operating
power by direct measurement of the antenna power.
In September, 1940, the Commission released the proposed
reallocation of standard broadcast stations effective March 29,
1940, which requires that the majority of stations change frequency.
In most cases the change in frequency will make only a minor change
in the antenna resistance. However, in some cases a substantial
change in the antenna resistance will result.
In view of the above, Section 3.51(a)(2) of the Rules
and Regulations Governing Standard Broadcast Stations is hereby
amended to read "Each existing standard broadcast station after
June 1, 1941. »
This extension of time within which to determine power by
the direct measurement does not apply to new stations (that is, sta¬
tions beginning operation for the first time) or to existing sta¬
tions installing new or readjusting the existing directional anten¬
nas on frequency assignments prior to March 29, 1941.
In order that consulting engineers may be free to adjust
directional antennas and measure the antenna resistance of stations
which cannot be made until the antennas are adjusted for the new
assignment, it is urged that stations for which a new frequency is
not indicated by mimeograph form No. 43252, as well as those sta¬
tions for which a frequency change is indicated by the above form
but which emoloys a nondirectional series excited antenna (resist¬
ance measurements of such stations may be readily made for both
frequencies) have the antenna resistance measured and submit appli¬
cation for authority to determine power by the direct method at
the earliest possible da.te.
It is also urged that all other stations have measurements
made and submit application for authority to determine power by the
direct method as soon after March 29, 1941, as practicable. It is
not contemplated that further extension of this time will be made.
XXXXXXXX
- 4 -
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CBS ORDERS POWERFUL MACKAY FOREIGN SERVICE TRANSMITTERS
The Columbia Broadcasting System has completed arrange¬
ments with the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company for two powerful
short wave radio broadcasting transmitters to be located at Brent¬
wood, Long Island, for high efficiency beam service to South America
and Europe. The new transmitters will have a power output of 50
kilowatts each which, when coupled with highly efficient directional
antennas, places them among the most powerful short wave trans¬
mitters in the world. The equipment for the new stations will be
manufactured and installed for CB$ by the Federal Telegraph Company
of Newark, N. J. , manufacturing associate of Mackay Radio.
The CBS transmitters will share the 1200 acre site at
Brentwood with the international radiotelegraph transmitters of the
Mackay Radio Company, and Mackay Radio will make extensive altera¬
tions to its main building to accommodate the CBS equipment and
personnel.
CBS engineers have selected for these new transmitters
special designs of antennas which Mackay Radio has recently develop¬
ed for producing more effective short wave broadcasting service,
particularly to the countries of Latin America.
It is expected that the new stations will be in operation
in the Summer of 1941.
xxxxxxxxxxx
SIXTY PERCENT NON-MET. DAILIES OMIT PROGRAMS
A recent survey made by Dial- Lite, newly-projected Chicago
publication devoted to radio programs of mid-west stations, shows
that 60$ of the non-metropolitan dailies in the Middle West carry
no radio program listings whatsoever. Circulation managers whose
papers do not publish radio programs may be interested to know of
the preponderance of dailies in this category.
The survey covered 335 dailies in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and
Wisconsin. More than 71$ of the papers surveyed have no national
network listings. More than 84$ of the papers do not carry what
Dial-Lite chooses to term ,la reasonably adequate program listing,
national, local or both. In this survey, metropolitan dailies were
not included, since most of them run radio station program listings.
Consequently, nine cities were omitted: Chicago, Des Moines, Mil¬
waukee, Detroit, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Omaha.
Of the 335 papers surveyed, 200 carry no program listings;
40 publish national network programs only; 39 list local programs
and 56 carry both local and national programs.
XXXXXXXX
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11/5/40
BURGLARS TURN INTO RADIO SONG WRITERS
The broadcasters have turned to new fields in their fight
on the American Society of Composers by adding a trio of alleged
burglars to their list of composers last week. As announced in
National Association of Broadcasters’ Reports ;
"John McGettigan steps out of jail on Saturday, November
2, to carry on a career which brought success to him through prison
walls. He composed the music of ’Stars Went To Sleep', said to be
the first song ever completely written, printed, and published from
within a penintentiary. The song has been successfully performed on
the radio and the sheet music has been selling well, according to
Billboard. The tune has now been acquired by Broadcast Music, Inc.
The composer is discharged from jail to hear his music go on the
air from coast to coast.
"Merritt Marsh, who wrote the words, and Edmund M. Duffy,
the publisher, still remain behind the bars. The trio were strang¬
ers until they all landed in the State Penintentiary at McAlester,
Oklahoma. The song and the trio who produced it have already had
some publicity. A fellow-prisoner wrote Elsie Robinson about them
and Miss Robinson devoted her widely syndicated column for one day
to his letter, saying, in part:
"'Buried in their cells, poisoned by grim memories, there
came to a trio of convicts a flash of sheer beauty - the whisper of
a song. For two years, without the slightest outside aid and in
the face of incredible handicaps, they worked on that song.
"'Marsh, serving a seven-year term for armed robbery,
composed the lyrics; McGettigan, serving a five-year prison sentence
for burglary, produced the melody; and Duffy, serving a fifteen-year
sentence for armed robbery, financed the publication. ' "
XXXXXXXXXX
C. I. 0. LOSES RADIO PLEA TO FCC
The Federal Communications Commission officials said last
week that they had no authority to act on the protest of President
John L. Lewis of the C. 1.0. against the refusal of Station KYA,
San Francisco, to renew a broadcasting contract held by the C.I.O.
for two years. The station, owned by Radio, Inc. , held that the
C.I.O. »a program was controversial and therefore could not be broad¬
cast on purchased time, being contrary to a provision of the Nation¬
al Association of Broadcasters' code adopted a year ago.
Pointing out that radio broadcasting, unlike the telephone
and telegraph, is not "a common carrier", the FCC officials said
radio stations are under no compulsion to sell time to any individ¬
ual or group. The Commission, they explained, has no power to inter¬
fere with the contractural relations between broadcasters and pur¬
chasers of time.
XXXXXXXX
- 6 -
11/5/40
FM OFF TO GOOD GEOGRAPHICAL START
More than 27,000 persons are embraced in the 110,000
square miles of potential service areas of the 15 frequency modula¬
tion broadcast stations initially authorized by the Federal Com¬
munications Commission to go on a full commercial basis as soon as
practicable.
Varied geographic regions - from New England to the Pacif
ic Coast and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf - are represented by
the 10 States first slated to be able to listen to this newest type
of broadcast.
Subject to certain engineering requirements, the follow¬
ing FM applicants are the first to receive Commission grants to go
commercial :
Location
Applicant
Frequency
(kc)
Peculation
Detroit
Evening News Ass’n
44, 500
2,498,000
Los Angeles
Don Lee Broadcasting
System
44,500
2,600,000
Schenectady
Capitol Broadcasting
Co. , Inc.
44, 700
967,700
New York
Marcus Loew Booking
46,300)
.
Agency
)
National Broadcasting
45,100)
Co.
Wm. G. H. Finch
) -
45,500)
12,000,000
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Frequency Broadcasting
Corp.
45, 900)
Evansville, Ind.
Evansville On the Air, Inc.
44,500
465,000
Mt. Washington, N. H.
Yankee Network
43 , 900
2,000,000
Binghamton, N. Y.
Howitt-Wood Radio Co. Inc.
44, 900
256,300
Baton Rouge, La.
Baton Rouge Broadcasting
Co.
44,500
361,400
Columbus, Ohio
WBNS, Inc.
44,500
1,100,000
Salt Lake City
Radio Service Corp. of
Utah
44,700
194,000
Chicago
Zenith Radio Corp.
45,100
4,500,000
Milwaukee
The Journal Co.
45, 500
1,522,000
Some of these stations have been operating experimentally
and hope to start commercial operation almost immediately; the rest
have construction work to do before going on the air.
Thirty-six additional applications are awaiting early ac¬
tion, the result of a rush of requests for high frequency broadcast
facilities since the Commission, last May, paved the way for FM
commercialization.
Meanwhile, the Commission is investigating the possibility
of assigning identifying call letters to FM stations to distinguish
them from standard broadcast stations.
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11/5/40
Under Commission rules and regulations, FM stations ere
available to every community. They are not subject to the same
interference as standard broadcast stations and, therefore, can
operate on the same channel with less mileage separation. However,
FM stations serving the same area are not assigned adjacent chan¬
nels. As many as a dozen or more different FM stations using
alternate channels may operate in a large metropolitan area.
These high frequency broadcast stations are authorized to
serve a specified area in square miles. Service area is comparable
in places where one or more such stations may be located. To
obviate possible monopoly, and to encourage local initiative, no
person or group is permitted to control more than one FM station in
the same area, and not more than six in the country as a whole.
At the outset, the Commission is requiring a daily (except
Sunday) minimum operating schedule for FM stations of at least three
hours during the day and three hours at night. To demonstrate the
capabilities of the new service, one hour a day at least must be
devoted to programs not duplicated simultaneously in the same area,
which means programs distinct from standard broadcast. Otherwise,
FM operation is governed largely by standard broadcast rules.
FM will not interfere with standard broadcast (amplitude
modulation). The two types of services are on different bands -
AM in the lower part of the spectrum (550 to 1600 kilocycles), and
FM in the higher frequencies (43,000 to 50,000 kilocycles). Intro¬
duction of PM does not make standard broadcast obsolete. FM has a
more limited range and the rural areas particularly must continue
to depend upon AM for years to come.
Because of their different positions in the spectrum, PM
cannot be received on standard broadcast receivers and vice versa.
That is why certain manufacturers are making separate FMsets or a
combination of the two. Besides being claimed static-less, FM
offers more tone range than standard broadcast and has particular
appeal to listeners who like fidelity of sound, such as in musical
broadcasts. It also opens up new broadcast facilities to augment
the congrested standard broadcast band.
The service area of the station at Salt Lake City is
limited to considerable less area than the basic trade area of Salt
Lake City. The topography of the area surrounding Salt Lake City
makes it technically impractical to serve a larger area which would
include anything like all of the basic trade area. All other ser¬
vice areas are made to conform substantially with the basic trade
area of the city in which the station is located. In the case of
Los Angeles, there are certain technical limitations due to the
topography and configuration of the trade area which have been taken
into consideration.
XXXXXXXXX
- 8 -
11/5/40
CAMPAIGN BROADCASTS ESTIMATED $1,500,000
More than $1,200,000 has been spent to date in this presi¬
dential campaign by the major political parties for sponsored time
on the radio, it was estimated by the New York Times last Sunday.
By the time the campaign ends, it is likely another $200,000, or
more, may be added to the sum.
When John k. Lewis went on the air recently over three
large networks aggregating nearly 300 stations, radio, according to
reports, charged a fee of about $60,000, a considerable part of
which represented rebates returning to the Fred Allen and Eddie
Cantor shows. When Mr. Willkie missed a recent microphone appoint¬
ment of about thirteen minutes on the NBC at Erie, Pa., his politi¬
cal sponsors were charged about $8,000, nearly half of which went
for organ music used to fill the gap until he arrived.
Based on an estimate, National Broadcasting Company, in¬
cluding all broadcasts to last Friday, will charge against the
Democrats about $230,000, with the possibility that another $120,000
may be added by election day. Against the Republicans the NBC will
bill to Friday about $225,000, with an addition of about $75,000 by
the end of the campaign. The estimated total is about $650,000.
Columbia Broadcasting System charges against all parties
by the close of the campaign, it is estimated, will be $400,000 to
$450,000. About 50 percent of the CBS bill for radio time is ex¬
pected to be against the Democrats, 30 percent Republican and the
remainder against various independent political organizations.
Another $250,000 will be charged in 1940 by the Mutual
System against all political organizations.
Of these amounts the Associated Willkie Clubs of America
will have spent this year about $200,000.
XXXXXXXX
SHE TOLD IT TO THE MARINE.'
When E. F. McDonald, Jr. , President of the Zenith Radio
Corporation visited Zenith's Automobile Show booth the night of his
arrival in New York, he found they had hired a new girl to sit in
one of their cars to demonstrate the new Zenith foot-controlled auto
radio. She did not know Commander McDonald who walked over to see
what her line of chatter was. But just as he landed at the star¬
board side of the car, a man in muftis came to the port side of the
car and engaged the demonstrator’s attention. He wasn't interested
in the foot switch but seemed to be very near-sighted as he was
interested in the valentine Zenith had demonstrating the foot switch.
He told her he was a Marine and was in civies for the day.
Mr. McDonald stayed there for some time - 12 minutes to be
exact - trying to get the lady to tell him something about the foot
switch. She did finally condescend to speak to him after the Marine
asked her for her address. She turned to Commander McDonald and
asked him if he had a pencil.'
XXXXXXXX
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11/5/40
TRADE NOTES
William S. Paley, President of the Columbia Broadcasting
System, sets out on Nov. 7 with two other executives of the Company
on a six-week aerial tour of South America. Mr. Paley will be ac¬
companied by Paul W. White, Director of News Programs, and Edmund
Chester, newly appointed Director of Latin American Relations. Mrs.
Paley also will make the trip. The itinerary calls for visits to
Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil
and Venezuela.
The Red Cross Certificate, awarded to only three persons
in Washington, was presented to Edgar Morris, Zenith distributor in
the Capital, by Brig. Gen. F. R. Keifer, District Chapter Chairman
for the leadership of Mr. Morris in the Roll Call just ended, the
most successful in local history.
The Federal Communications Commission has granted an appli¬
cation of Guy S. Cornish of Cincinnati to erect a new Class II
experimental station to operate on the frequency 310,000 kilocycles
with a power of 1 watt and Type A3 emission.
Station WBAL in Baltimore has ordered a 50,000 watt trans¬
mitter from the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. Air¬
cooled tubes and other improvements will permit an operating effici¬
ency of approximately 50 percent. This means that the station will
radiate 50,000 watts in the antenna from an input of about 105,000
watts at the transmitter. A few years ago, operating efficiencies
were not more than 30 percent.
The transaction was completely local to Baltimore, as the
transmitter will be manufactured in the Radio Division of Westing-
house, whose plant is in Baltimore.
Pioneer air entertainers will again broadcast on Friday,
November 8, when Station WEAF dedicates its new transmitter, at
8:30 P.M. , EST. Niles Trammell, NBC President, will inaugurate
service over the new transmitter.
Dedication of the new transmitter, marking the establish¬
ment of a new standard of service to the listener, coincides within
a few days with the celebration of radio broadcasting’s twentieth
anniversary.
XXXXXXXX
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11/5/40
RCA UP SHARPLY TO $98,204,219
The Radio Corporation of America and subsidiaries had a
consolidated net income of $5,713,943 in the first nine months of
this year. This was equal, after full preferred dividend require¬
ments, to 24 cents a share on the corporation's 13,881,016 shares
of common stock outstanding, and compares with a net of $4,066,425,
or 12 cents a common share, in the first nine months of 1939.
G-ross revenues of the RCA group for the nine months aggre¬
gated $98,204,219, compared with $74,780,658 in the corresponding
1939 period, while operating expenses, exclusive of depreciation
and taxes, rose to $78,579,251 from $66,650,333 a year ago.
XXXXXXXXX
SEARCHING- CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY FOR EDUCATIONAL RADIO MATERIAL
Archibald MacLeish, the Librarian of Congress, has announc¬
ed that the Rockefeller Foundation has placed at the disposition of
the Library of Congress the services of two Fellows in Ra.dio Research
whose first duty will be to survey those resources of the Library
which might be of service to educational broadcasting groups.
University broadcasting stations and other educational
stations throughout the country may apply to the Fellows by mail or
wire for their assistance in planning programs, in supplying back¬
ground material, and in suggesting bibliographic and other supple¬
mentary material. It is believed that the Fellows will be of parti¬
cular use in connection with programs drawing upon the rich resources
of the Library of Congress in the fields of American History and of
American Folk Music and Polk Tales.
The Library's Fellows in Radio Research are Philip H.
Cohen, former Production Director of the Office of Education Radio
Division and Associate Director of the New York University Radio
Workshop, and Charles T. Harrell, Program Director of Station WLB,
on leave from the University of Minnesota station.
XXXXXXXX
An Ohioan is informed by the Federal Communications Com¬
mission that no Federal license is required for a short wave receiver
installed in an automobile. However, his attention is invited to
that section of the Communications Act which prohibits unauthorized
interception and use of radio communications other than those in¬
tended for public use.
XXXXXXXX
11 -
ft
Xs
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
| I L=i 45 lL Li & iA . ,
i u* NOV 12
a «r *
INDEX TO ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 8, 1940.
Sabotage Denied In U. S. Standards Radio Fire . 2
FCC Passes Buck On Father Coughlin....* . *... . * . 3
Milwaukee Gets New Television Station.... . . . 3
FCC Commissionership Biggest Radio Plum... . 4
j _
FCC Authorizes Many Changes. ..»*.** . * . . 7
I
Sees Color Television Test New Advertising Era Peep-Hole . 8
No Election Dilly-Dallying For Dill . 10
Sees FCC Trying To Favor Lewis . 10
Trade Notes . 11
7000 At WGY Farm Forum . 12
No. 1281
SABOTAGE DENIED IN U. S. STANDARDS RADIO FIRE
An investigation of a fire that destroyed the $50,000
Bureau of Standards radio transmitting station at Beltsville, Md. ,
near Washington, D. C. , last Wednesday, was said to have revealed
no evidence of sabotage. The station was used to transmit various
frequencies by which the standard broadcast stations measure and
check their own frequencies.
Luckily a small building nearby was saved. It is expect¬
ed that a temporary 5 megacycle standard frequency transmitter will
be in operation there within a few days and that others may soon be
set up. It is expected that the entire plant will be rebuilt but
it will necessitate an emergency appropriation from Congress.
Firemen from three companies, hampered by high winds had
difficulty in securing water to check the flames. So fierce was
the blaze that it fired two acres of wooded land behind the two-
story frame structure, located on the Agriculture experimental farm
grounds, and C. C. C. workers battled for four hours to stamp out
the forest blaze.
A watchman noticed smoke coming from the attic of the
building at 6:30 A.M. Firemen from the Government farm, Branch-
ville and Berwyn answered the alarm he gave. They were forced to
stretch hose lines almost half a mile to reach the nearest hydrant,
since a water tap near the building was not large enough to permit
a sufficiently heavy flow of water, firemen said. By the time
water was flowing from the distant hydrant, the building was in
ruins, with only a chimney standing.
E. C. Crittenden, Chief of the Electrical Division of the
Bureau of Standards said that he did not believe any serious trouble
would result from destruction of the transmitter and that it would
be replaced as soon as possible.
The whole apparatus is automatic, unattended except for
maintenance. Mr. Crittenden said a mechanical defect probably was
responsible for the fire and described much of the equipment as
being "quite old", having been installed eight years ago.
It was explained that the small Congre ssional appropria¬
tion wasn’t sufficient to employ a full-time watchman. This is the
second Government fire at which the question of sabotage has been
raised. The other one was the recent disastrous Munitions Building
blaze where the War Department Radio Center is located and which
also occurred in the early hours of the morning. Although sabot¬
age was denied, a well-known newspaper columnist declared there
had been twenty fires there in almost as many days.
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At the War Department, the question of watchman vigilance
was also raised. Although the fire could be seen for miles, when
the alarm was sounded, this writer was told that Engine #1 only
about eight blocks away, one of the first companies to respond, was
obliged to crash down by driving through the Munitions Building
gates because no watchman was at hand to open them.
Dr. J. H. Dellinger, Chief of the Radio Division of the
Bureau of Standards, suffering from a bad cold at the time of the
Standards fire, was still confined to his home but it was said at
the Bureau that it was hoped there would be only a temporary sus¬
pension of the standard frequency transmission work.
XXXXXXXXX
FCC PASSES BUCK ON FATHER COUGHLIN
Various letters referring to discontinuance of broadcasts
by the Rev. Charles E. Coughlin have been received by the Federal
Communications Commission. In reply to these, the Commission reit¬
erates that the censorship provision of the Communications Act places
responsibility for the selection of program material upon the res¬
pective licensees, and the Commission cannot require a station to
put any individual on the air or take him off the air.
In answering mail prompted by refusal of radio time,
the Commission points out that the Act further provides that a
broadcast station is not a "common carrier" such as is the telephone
and telegraph. Consequently, a radio station is not required to
make its facilities available to a person or group, even though
offer is made to purchase time. Unlike common carrier tariffs,
broadcast station rates are not required to be filed with the Com¬
mission.
XXXXXXXXXX
MILWAUKEE GETS NEW TELEVISION STATION
A permit for a new television station has been granted
to the Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wis. , on a frequency of 6600-
72000 kc. , (Channel No. 3), 1 KW aural and visual power. The site
of the station is to be determined.
The application for a television station at Springfield,
Mass. , made by Henry J. Walczak, has been voluntarily dismissed.
XXXXXXXX
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11/8/40
FCC COMMISSIONERSHIP BIGGEST RADIO PLUM
Insofar as radio is concerned, it is believed things in
Washington will wag along about as usual following the re-election
of President Roosevelt. A new Federal Communications Commissioner -
a Republican to succeed Thad H. Brown - is due to be appointed and
this is being fondly eyed by the politicos. There will be a few new
faces on the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee and the House
Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committees, which handle radio matters
in the Senate and House, but Senator Burton K. Wheeler, of Montana,
Chairman of the former Committee, and Representative Schuyler Otis
Bland, of Virginia, Chairman of the latter, both having been re¬
elected, things will doubtless continue to move along smoothly under
the same old management.
According to returns available at this writing, Senator
^heeler defeated his opponent in Montana overwhelmingly and ran
ahead of President Roosevelt with whom he has frequently disagreed.
Senators on the Committee who were re-elected were Truman, of
Missouri; Andrews, of Florida; Lister Hill, of Alabama; Austin,
of Vermont; Shipstead of Minnesota; Reed of Kansas, and Gurney of
South Dakota.
Senator Charles W. Tobey, of New Hampshire, so well-
remembered with his cracking of the whip in the Thad Brown hearings,
is also a member of the Committee, was not up for re-election.
There will be several vacancies. Senator Minton, of Indiana, was
defeated. Senator Mathew M. Neeley will retire, having been elected
Governor of West Virginia. The late Senator Lundeen of Minnesota,
was also a member of this Committee.
There will be about four vacancies on the Merchant Marine
and Fisheries Committee, one of these being Representative Eugene,
Democrat, of Indiana, who was defeated. Apparently all of the
other Committee members have been re-elected.
Several names have already been mentioned for the Federal
Communications Coramissionership, and many more will doubtless be
proposed, because this is a nice Juicy $10,000 plum which may or
may not go to some deserving Roosevelt Republican for campaign ser¬
vices. This would cause no great surprise to the communications
industry which has never yet had a hand in any of the appointments,
or as a rule have the appointees been soecially qualified. One new
Commissioner was asked what he knew about radio and he answered,
"Well, I like to listen to it."
Among the names suggested for the Commissionership, the
only one of which the industry has probably ever heard - and he has
its highest respect - is E. K. Jett, present Chief Engineer of the
Federal Communications Commission. Lieutenant Jett succeeded
Commissioner T.A.M. Craven in this position, and like Commander
Craven, was formerly a Naval officer. Mr. Jett was born in Balti¬
more in 1893 and served in the Navy as radio officer from 1911-29.
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11/8/40
Senator Wheeler, who, it is expected, may have a voice
in the appointment, has frequently demanded somebody from the West.
One of the first of these to be proposed was Carl Irving Wheat, of
San Francisco, who was telephone rate attorney for the Federal
Communications Commission in 1936-37, and later telephone rate
counsel and Director of Telephone Rate and Research Department of
the FCC at the time of the Government telephone investigation in
1937-38.
Mr. Wheat, as a matter of fact, was born in Holliston,
Mass. , in 1892, but went to California at an early age. He was
graduated from Occidental College Academy in Los Angeles, in 1911,
with an A. B. at Pomona College, Claremont, Calif, in 1915, and an
LL. B. , at Harvard in 1920. He was admitted to the California bar
in that same year and began practice in Los Angeles, first as
attorney for the Railroad Commission of California, of which he
later became Chief Counsel.
Another California Man spoken of is Ray C. Wakefield, of
Palo Alto, former President of the California Railroad Commission.
Mr. Wakefield is 45 years old, was Inheritance Tax Appraiser for
State of California in Fresno Co., 1923-37; member law firm of
Wakefield & Hansen, 1928-32, Wakefield & Staniford, 1935-37; member
of the California Railroad Commission since January 1937 (President
of Commission August 1938-January 1940; Vice-President, National
Railroad and Utilities Commissioners since August, 1940; Secretary
Republican Central Committee, Fresno Co. , 1920-21; Chairman, 1922-
23; member State Republican Central Committee, 1922-23; Delegate to
Republican National Convention, Chicago, 1932. Director of Commun¬
ity Chest and Y. M. C.A. , Fresno. He is a member of the American Bar
Association, California State Bar Association, Order of Coif, Delta
Chi. He is also a member of the First Christian Church, Fresno and
is a Mason. His clubs are Kiwanis International (Lt. Gov. Calif. -
Nev. Dist. 1932); Commonwealth (San Francisco).
Still another Westerner mentioned is John C. Kendall,
radio practitioner, formerly of Portland, Ore. Another is Arthur G.
Crane, President of the University of Wyoming, Chairman of the
National Committee on Education by Radio since 1936. His biograph¬
ical sketch follows:
Mr. Crane was born at Davenport Center, Delaware Co., N.Y. ,
September 1, 1877, son of Edward Payson and Mary Ward (Griswold) C. ;
B.3, Carleton College, Northfield, Minn., 1902; studied University
of Wisconsin, Summers, 1908, 09; A.M., Teachers College (Columbia)
1918; Ph. D. , Columbia, 1920; married Laura May DeArment, of
Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania, August 23, 1904; children - Paul, Mary.
Superintendent of Schools, Minot, N. Dak., 1902-05; Principal,
Fergus Co. High School, Lewiston, Mont., 1905-07; Superintendent of
Schools, Jamestown, N. Dak., 1907-12; President, State Normal School,
Minot, N. Dak., 1912-20 (built and organized this school); Principal,
State Normal School, Eainboro, Pa. , 1920-22; President University of
Wyoming since 1922. Major in Sanitary Corps on duty in office of
Surgeon General, Washington, D. C. , 1918-19, as Director, Education¬
al Sect. Division of Physical Re construction, in rehabilitation of
11/8/40
disabled, soldiers and sailors. Member North Dakota State Board of
Education; Chairman, National Committee on Education by Radio
since 1936, Committee on Higher Education of N.E.A. , since 1936.
Member. North Dakota State Educational Association (President 1915),
Phi Beta Kappa ( Carleton College), Delta Sigma Rho, Phi Delta Kappa.
Republican, Presbyterian, Mason; Author of "History of Physical
Reconstruction" in official Medical History of the World War. Joint
editor, courses of study for use in Array hospitals. Home, Laramie,
Wyoming.
Theodore Granik, who conducts the American Forum of the
Air over the Mutual Network, has been spoken of as an FCC appointee,
also Nelson Lee Smith, Chairman of the New Hampshire Public Util¬
ities Commission. Likewise Willis Jerome Ballinger, economic
adviser of the Federal Trade Commission. Mr. Ballinger's biographi¬
cal sketch follows:
Mr. Ballinger is an economist; bom Washington, D. C. ,
May 17, 1901; son of Webster and Marva Faye (Dixon) B. ; Ph. B. ,
Yale, 1923; studied law, Yale, 1924-25, George Washington University,
1926-27; student Harvard Graduate School, 1932-33; unmarried.
Instructor Economics, Smith College, Northampton, Mass. , 1923-24;
Instructor, Political Science and International Relations, Amherst
(Mass.) College, 1923-24; Lecturer Roxbury School, New Haven, Conn.,
and editorial writer, New Haven Union, 1924-25; Staff correspondent,
United Press, covering Department of Commerce, Washington, D. C. ,
1925; Feature writer UPC News Service, Inc., N.Y.Qity, 1925, Associ¬
ate Editor, 1926-28; Instructor, Economics and Sociology, Goucher
College, Baltimore, 1928-31; Professor, Economics, American Insti¬
tute of Banking, 1930-31; editorial writer, Baltimore Sun, 1930;
Member, editorial staff, New York Herald Tribune, 1931; Assistant
Professor Economics, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., 1931-32;
editorial writer Washington (D.C. ) Post, 1933; St. Louis Post-
Dispatch, 1934; Chief of Special Studies, Securities and Exchange
Commission, Washington, D. C. , 1934-37; Economic Adviser to the
Federal Trade Commission, 1937. Chairman, Speaker's Bureau,
LaFollette-Wheeler presidential ticket, 1924, for State of Connecti¬
cut. Dir. studies for Federal Trade Commission before Temporary
National Econ. Com. Member, American Economics Association, Ameri¬
can Statistical Association, Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Sigma Rho, Alpha
Sigma Phi. Episcopalian. Clubs: Yale, National Press. Home:
Washington, D. C.
xxxxxxxxxx
Advertised as the book that stopped trial by newspaper in
Massachusetts "Contempts by Publication" also contains Chapters
devoted to contempts by radio, television, telephone and the movies.
The author is Harold W. Sullivan, of the Yale School of Law. The
Price is $10, postage prepaid: Frank T. Day, Inc., 729 Boylston
Street, Boston, Massachusetts.
XXXXXXXXX
6
■ 1 . I* ■-}• v M ;
11/8/40
FCC AUTHORIZES MANY CHANGES
These are busy days at the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion. Among the increases in power authorized recently were WALA,
Mobile, Ala. , from 1 KW to 5 KW day and night; WNBC, New Britain,
Conn., from 1 KW to 5 KW day, 1 KW night; KOIL, Omaha, Nebr. , from
1 KW to 5 KW night, 5 KW day; WHIO, Dayton, Ohio, from 1 KW to 5 KW
night, 5 KWday; WNBX, Kenne, N. H., day and night power from 1 KW
to 5 KW. (Stations KOIL, WHIO and WNBX, worked out mutual inter¬
ference problems by agreement on directional antenna); KDFN, Casper,
Wyo. , from 500 watts to 1 KW day and night.
Also WIBA, Madison, Wis., to 5 KW night and day; WORC,
Worcester, Mass., from 500 watts to I KW; KLS, Oakland, Calif., from
250 watts to 1 KW; WRR, Dallas, Texas, from 500 watts to 5 KW; WDOD,
Chattanooga, Tenn. , from 1 to 5 KW night (now has 5 KW LS) ; KFBB,
Great Falls, Mont., from 1 to 5 KW, night; KGIO, Mason City, la.,
from 100 watts night, 250 watts LS, to 1 KW unlimited.
Station KCMO, Kansas City, has made application to the
FCC to change power from 1 KW night, 5 KW day to 5 KW day and night.
Construction permits for new stations have been granted
to Batavia Broadcasting Corp. , Batavia, N. Y. , 1500 kc., 250 watts
power, unlimited time; Capitol Broadcasting Corp., Indianapolis, Ind
on 1280 kc. , with power of 1 KW night, 5 KW day, unlimited time,
employing directional antenna at night; Brown County Broadcasting
Co., Brownwood, Tex.; to operate on 1350 kc., 500 watts, unlimited
time; Capital Broadcasting Co., Washington, D. C. , on 1490 kc. , 250
watts, unlimited; The Maryland Broadcasting Co. , Baltimore, Md. , on
1200 kc. , 250 watts, unlimited time; Nueces Broadcasting Co., Corpus
Christi, Tex., on 1500 kc., 250 watts, unlimited time.
Applications have been received for a new station from the
Natchez Broadcasting Co. , Natchez, Miss. , to be operated on 1500 kc.
250 watts; Monroe B. England, North Adams, Mass., to be operated on
1500 kc., 250 watts, unlimited time; Richard Field Lewis, Jr.,
Winchester, Va. , to be operated on 1370 kc . , 250 watts, unlimited
time .
Construction permits have been granted for new relay
broadcasting stations the Anarillo Broadcasting Corp. , Amarillo,
Tex., Loyola University, New Orleans, La., and Racine Broadcasting
Corp., Racine, Wis.
Applications for new high frequency broadcast stations
have been received by the FCC from Metropolitan Television Inc. ,
New York, N. Y. , The Yankee Network, Inc., Boston, Mass., and Rock¬
ford Broadcasters, Inc., Rockford, Ill.
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11/8/40
SEES COLOR TELEVISION TEST NEW ADVERTISING ERA PEEPHOLE
Seeing it from the significant viewpoint of the retail
department store, Ira A. Hirschmann, Vice-President of Bloomingdale's
one of the largest establishments in New York City, expresses the
greatest enthusiasm for color television and believes it will bring
a new era in retail advertising.
"A month ago, in the small, dark laboratories on the
fifth floor of the Columbia Broadcasting System building in New
York, I sat with a group of gentlemen who were huddled together in
front of two television sets", Mr. Hirschman writes in The Depart¬
ment Store Buyer. "The sets were identical in appearance, but
there the similarity ended, as I was soon to discover.
"A hand reached up and pulled on the electric cord, and
the laboratory was plunged into darkness. Behind a table against
the wall the soft, precisely accented English of a man's voice
gave instructions to begin and upon the screens of both sets appear¬
ed the same title: ’Color Television'.
"But the titles might as well have been in different lang¬
uages, the screen on the left might better have shown Sanskrit writ¬
ings or Babylonian hieroglyphs from that point on. For on the
screen at the right, following in exciting succession - and in full
color - were a series of pictures of luxurious flowers, of laughing
girls, of gliding sailboats, of striking fashions - all the rich
true colors first given them by nature. . . and returned to them
once again, in their brilliant and vivid shades, by color televi¬
sion.
"I can't begin to tell you how impressive the colors were,
and how much they added to the clarity and impact of the pictures.
This was sharpened by the contrast with exactly the same picture on
the other set shown in black and white.
"From the moment the light went out in the room, our atten¬
tion was divided between the two sets at first, gradually became
focused on the color television set. The dull gray and black and
white pictures on the left, being shown simultaneously with the
color films, seemed almost to characterize its sudden antiquity,
its rather out-moded usefulness, its immediate obsolescence, next
to the young, arrogant reds, deep blues and yellows of the color
movies.
"So here was a revolution done so quietly that it was not
until much later that the full effect of the implications of this
'new world' became evident. We who had nodded our heads in some¬
what bewildered agreement as to the method's faithfulness in trans¬
mitting color, and its clarification of minor detail agreed: 'most
amazing thing I've seen in years. By God, it works.1'
"The truly significant result of that showing, in my
opinion, lies in the simple fact that full color-in-action can now
be transmitted over the air, and over wires. That which has been
- 8 -
11/8/40
talked about as a raillenium in communication and promotion is sud-
dently here. And that should be cause for rejoicing, especially
for retailers.
"For radio, as we know it today, with its prodigious suc¬
cess in selling goods for manufacturers has never quite been able
to make the grade for the retailer. I blame this on the retailer' s
inability to learn how to use it. Others see in the vocal message
alone a barrier which sight of goods alone can overcome.
"Whatever the reason, here was the answer incontrovertible,
right in front of my eyes. For seeing is believing, and the colors
and fabrics and active use of goods could be seen in motion through
this miracle revelation.
"One hesitates to make prophecies, especially in times
like these. But if this is not the peep-hole to the new world in
retail advertising, I will be greatly mistaken. For unquestionably,
bringing the feel and color and active use of merchandise into the
home with focused interest shou?.d revolutionize the art of selling
and propaganda .
"To those of us in the retail trade, there is more of
importance in this successful transmission of color by radio than
any previous news of the imminence of television.
"As a department store retailer, our interest in this
development should be boundless. The sudden opening of an entirely
new vista of ether advertising, in which not only are our garments,
our furnishings and equipment, our every product able to be shown
the consumer in black and white picture s ,* but the added value of
showing those products in their original true colors, will bring a
new advertising era to the retailer.
"As a consumer your interest in that addition to your
entertainment can be estimated in financial tersm. It is estimated
that it will cost but thirty dollars extra to equip a standard
($300) television receiving set with this attachment. A small
figure for unlimited improvement in entertainment.
"All this, of course, is in the future. The transmission
of color films has been accomplished, but the next and greater steps,
as I have said, are ahead.
"Color television actually is now in the fourth of five
stages of laboratory development. The first was application of the
optical and electronic formula to the practical problem,* the second
involved joining of motion to color; third was adaption of a stand¬
ard black-and-white television receiver with a nine-inch tube to
receive color, and fourth, an actual test of the color system on
the air.
"Work on this problem is being carried on, and it is hoped
that before January 1st 'live* pick-ups will have been successfully
demonstrated. This phase of the work may require, however, the
development of pick-up tubes not yet available, and may therefore
require the cooperation of manufacturers who specialize in this field.
XXXXXXXXX
NOTE - DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE GOVERNMENT OFFICES ARE TO BE
CLOSED ON ARMISTICE DAY, THERE WILL BE NO ISSUE OF THE HEINL SERVICE
ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
- 9 -
11/8/40
NO ELECTION DILLY-DALLYING FOR DILL
Former Senator Clarence C. Dill, Democrat, co-author of
the Dill- White radio law, and for years one of the leading radio
legislators in the Capitol, met with the fiercest opposition in
his entire career, and possibly defeat in his fight for Governor
of the State ofWashington. He ran against Mayor Arthur B. Langlie,
Republican, Mayor of Seattle.
According to latest reoorts with only 44 precincts missing,
Mayor Langlie 1 s vote was 373,483, and Senator Dill's 371,372. Mr.
Dill had previously served two terns in Congress and two in the
Senate .
XXXXXXXXX
SEES FCC TRYING TO FAVOR LEWIS
Alan Barth writes in the McClure Newspaper Syndicate:
''John L. Lewis has lodged a vigorous protest with the
Federal Communications Commission against the refusal of radio
station KYA, San Francisco, to renew a broadcasting contract held
for the past two years by the C.I.O. Despite Lewis' recent radio
blast at F.D.R. and the New Deal, FCC insiders reveal that they're
doing all they can to back him up.
"The radio station has ducked out of carrying the C.I.O.
program on the ground that it's controversial and therefore banned
from purchased time by the code of the National Association of
Broadcasters. Despite a public statement by FCC officials that
the agency has no power to interfere in such a situation, some of
the Commission's top legal sharps are trying earnestly to find some
way of keeping the labor program on the air. It's a test case and
if the KYA ruling prevails, the labor point of view is liable to be
barred by all stations.
"Those in sympathy with Lewis' protest point out that pre¬
sentation of the employers' point of view in broadcasts must be
equally controversial. To be logical, stations ought to ban also
the Ford Sunday Hour, for example, which presents a talk on industry
by William J. Cameron. If stations won't sell radio time to labor,
they may be required to give it gratis as one side of a controversial
picture. "
XXXXXXXXXX
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11/8/40
: : TRADE NOTES
The Federal Communications Commission has granted
Station WMBG in Richmond, Va. , a license to cover a construction
permit which authorized installation of new auxiliary transmitter
and increase in power to 1 KW, for emergency use only, directional
antenna day and night, 1350 kilocycles.
Listeners in the Greenwood and Jackson areas of Mississ¬
ippi are receiving increased service with the addition of Station
WGRM, Greenwood and WSLI, Jackson, as members of the NBC Blue
Southern group. This makes a total of 206 NBC affiliates.
Station W2XWV, Allen B. Dumont Labs. , Inc. , New York City,
has been granted extension of special temporary authority to oper¬
ate a 50-watt television transmitter on frequencies 60000-86000
kc. , for the period Nov. 10 to Dec. 9, in order to conduct field
tests.
Dr. Thomas F. Anderson, University of Wisconsin Chemistry
instructor, has been named by a committee of distinguished scient¬
ists to receive the RCA Electron Microscope Fellowship. Dr. Ander¬
son, a native of Manitowoc, Wis. , took his Bachelor of Science
degree at the California Institute of Technology in 1932.
In collaboration with the RCA Fellowship Committee, by
whom he was appointed, Dr. Anderson is devoting a year to research
with the electron microscope which was recently developed in the RCA
research laboratories, and has now been made available for research
workers in every field. With the new electron microscope, it is
possible to obtain useful magnification of objects up to 100,000
diameters. With optical microscopes the useful magnif ica tion of
objects is limited to 1500 diameters with ordinary light, and to
2500 diameters with ultra-violet light.
After operating an amplitude modulated emergency communi¬
cations system for five years, the City of Nashville has ordered a
complete FM system from the General Electric Company.
A WMCA engineer got seasick the other day climbing up the
325-foot tower of WMCA 1 s new antenna system at Kearny, N. J. , to
check the pilot beacon wnich is used to warn approaching aircraft.
The towers (there are three of them) have a two-foot sway and are
built to resist winds of hurricane velocity. Each weighs approxi¬
mately 48,000 pounds and rests on insulators weighing 75 pounds.
XXXXXXXXX
11 -
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11/8/40
7000 AT WG-Y FARM FORUM
Rural electrification, improved roads and other advances
make the farmer of today happier than the farmer of 1925, speakers
told 7000 persons at the fifteenth anniversary celebration of the
WGY Farm Forum, a pioneer General Electric radio program, in
Schenectady, N.Y., held recently.
The crowd paid its way to the event by bringing five tons
of food, mostly potatoes and apples, for donation to State charities.
‘'When the problems of rural electrification were first
projected on this program", said CharlesE. Wilson, President of
General Electric, "it is estimated that there were approximately
205,000 electrified farms in the United States. Today estimates
range from 1,800,000 to 2,000,000.
"But important as its part has been, electrification has
been only one element contributing to the betterment of farm living
and to the advancement of agriculture. During the past fifteen
years and notwithstanding the disastrous effects of depression and
a world at war, both agriculture and industry have made advances,
each to the advantage of the other. We all know that there is much
more progress to come."
Wheeler McMillen, editor of the Farm Journal and Farmer's
Wife, said fifteen times as many farmers have radio sets as in 1925,
and that a million more automobiles are owned by farmers.
Niles Trammell, President of the National Broadcasting
Company, explained how radio has helped end rural isolation and
predicted that with television "the possibilities of service will
increase and the link between city and farm which radio has forged
through the air will become even stronger. "
Other speakers were Frank E. Mullen, NBC Vice President;
Dr. Hugh P. Baker, President of Massachusetts State College; Jared
Van Wagenen, Jr., Lawyersville , N.Y. , and Ed W. Mitchell of WGY.
Greetings were received from President Roosevelt, Governor Lehman
of New York, Governor Aiken of Vermont, the Secretary of Agricul¬
ture, and others.
Emerson Markham, in charge of General Electric's agricul¬
tural broadcasting, and his staff welcomed the crowd. After con¬
tributing their own food to charity, the 7000 visitors were luncheon
guests of General Electric.
The program included demonstrations of television, fre¬
quency modulation, radio transmission, and the latest farm electri¬
cal equipment.
XXXXXXXXX
12 -
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 15, 1940
New Defense Communications Board Set-Up Explained . 2
Monopoly Report Deadline Passed . 5
How About Giving Radio A Cabinet Post? . 6
Say ASCAP Fight May Continue Beyond Jan. 1 . 7
Says U. S. Programs To S. A. Miss Mark. .
MCA Starts Radio Classified Ads .
Ship And Coastal Service Rules Clarified
Trade Notes . 9
Will Rogers Was Not Happy With Radio . 10
New Million Dollar NBC San Francisco Building . 11
Gen. Johnson On Risky List? . 11
"Direct Pick-Up" In Color Television Achieved At CBS . 12
Pillow Speaker Worries Nazis . 12
No. 1282
co co co
NEW DEFENSE COM MUNI CATIONS BOARD SET-UP EXPLAINED
Detailed information has just been given out explaining
the duties of the Defense Communications Board and its various sub¬
committees. The four main Committees - Law, Coordinating, Labor
Advisory and Industry Advisory - will report direct to the Board
whose members are:
Chairman - James Lawrence Fly, Chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission; Major Gen. Joseph 0. Mauborgne, Chief
Signal Officer of the Army; Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes, Director of
Naval Communications; Hon. Breckenridge Long, Assistant Secretary
of State in Charge of the Division of International Communications;
Secretary - Herbert E. Gaston, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
in Charge of the Coast Guard.
The duties of the Coordinating Committee include assist¬
ance to the Board in planning" and coordinating work. It will main¬
tain liaison with the Law Committee, Labor Advisory Committee and
Industry Advisory Committee, for the purposes of advice and consul¬
tation and will supervise the work of the other committees, which
will report directly to it. Its members are: Chairman, E. K. Jett,
Chief Engineer, Federal Communications Commission; Francis C. deWolf,
State Department; Maj. W. T. Guest, War Department; Commander Earl E.
Stone, Navy Department and Commander J. F. Farley, Chief of Communi¬
cations, U. S. Coast Guard, Treasury Department.
The duties of the Law Committee Include the furnishing of
legal opinions and advice, and the drafting of final reports and
recommendations, proposed Executive Orders, proclamations, and
legislation. The Law Committee will report directly to the Board
but will have liaison, for purposes of advice and consultation, with
the Coordinating Committee, and, as may be necessary, with other
committees. Its members are: Chairman, Telford Taylor, General
Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission; Capt. J. W.
Huyssoon, Office of the Judge Advocate General, War Department;
Steven Spingarn, Treasury Department; Lt. Comdr. Franz 0. Willen-
bucher, Navy Department and Raymund T. Yingling, State Department.
The duties of the Labor Advisory Committee include the
submission of expert advice to the Board on all labor problems inci¬
dent to the proper carrying out of its national defense mission.
With the requirements of national defense as a primary consideration,
the Labor Advisory Committee will submit recommendations to the Board
on such problems as are referred to it by the Board. The Labor Com¬
mittee will report directly to the Board but will have liaison for
the purpose of advice and consultation with the Coordinating Com¬
mittee and the Industry Advisory Committee. Its membership is to
be designated later.
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11/15/40
The duties of the Industry Advisory Committee include the
submission of expert advice to the Board on all problems of general
concern to the communications companies incident to the proper carry¬
ing out of the Board's national defense mission. With the require¬
ments of national defense as a primary consideration, the Industry
Advisory Committee will submit recommendations to the Board on such
problems as are referred to it by the Board. The Industry Advisory
Committee will report directly to the Board but will have liaison
for the purpose of advice and consultation with the Coordinating
Committee and the Labor Advisory Committee. Its membership will
be designated later.
There are eleven additional Committees which all work
under the Coordinating Committee. They are Amateur Radio, Aviation
Radio, Cable, Domestic Broadcasting, Interdepartment Radio Advisory,
International Broadcasting, Radio communications, State and Municipal
Facilities, Telegraph, Telephone, and United States Government
Facilities. As yet the members of these Committees have not been
appointed but it is expected that this will be done within a couple
of weeks. The size of the Committees will vary - all the way from
5 to 20 members may be necessary.
The duties of the Amateur Radio Committee will include
the study of all phases of amateur radio facilities. With the
requirements of national defense as a primary consideration, the
committee shall recommend precautions and restrictions with respect
to amateur radio operations under various emergency conditions, and
the allocation of such amateur facilities as may be required by the
Army or the Navy.
The duties of the Aviation Radio Committee will include
the study of all phases of domestic and international civil aviation
radio facilities and communications services associated therewith.
It will have liaison with the U. S. Government Facilities Committee
and the State and Municipal Facilities Committee. With the require¬
ments of national defense as a primary consideration, the Committee
shall recommend plans for the most efficacious use of all of these
facilities in time of military emergency, giving due consideration to
the needs of other governmental agencies, of industry, and of other
civilian activities.
The duties of the Cable Committee include the study of
all phases of submarine cable communications facilities used in the
international or overseas service. With the requirements of national
defense as a primary consideration, the Committee shall recommend
plans for the most efficacious use of all of these facilities in
time of military emergency, giving due consideration to the needs
of other governmental agencies, of industry, and of other civilian
activitie s.
The duties of the Domestic Broadcasting Committee will
include the study of the physical aspects of domestic standard
broadcasting and formulation of recommendations of such precautions,
supplementary facilities and reallocations as it shall deem desir¬
able under foreseeable military conditions. It shall also consider
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11/15/40
other domestic broadcasting systems including relay broadcasting,
high frequency (FM) broadcasting, television, facsimile broadcasting
and experimental broadcasting. The Committee's work in all of these
fields will include recommendations for the speedy and efficacious
use in time of military emergency of all necessary domestic broad¬
casting facilities and communications services associated therewith,
with the requirements of the national defense as a primary consider¬
ation.
The duties of the Interdenartment Radio Advisory Committee
will include making special studies and recommendations regarding
frequency allocations, with the requirements of national defense
as a primary consideration but giving due consideration to the needs
of governmental agencies, of industry, and of other civilian activi¬
ties. This Committee will be made up of the existing members of
the Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee. The Committee is
designated under the provisions of Paragraphs 5 and 7, but without
reference to Paragraph 8 of the President's Executive Order of
September 24, 1940, re creating the defense communications board
and defining its functions and duties.
The duties of the International Broadcasting Committee
will include the study of all phases of international broadcasting
and the formulation of recommenda.tions concerning such precautions,
supplementary facilities and reallocations as it shall deem desir¬
able under foreseeable military conditions. With the requirements
of national defense as a primary consideration, it shall also recom¬
mend plans for the speedy and efficacious use of all necessary
international broadcasting facilities in time of military emergency
giving due consideration to the needs of other governmental agencies,
of industry, and of other civilian activities.
The duties of the Radio communications Committee will in<*
elude the study of all phases of domestic and international radio¬
telegraph and radiotelephone communications facilities (including
mobile and fixed services) except aviation, amateur, Federal, State,
and Municipal communications facilities. With the requirements of
national defense as a primary consideration, the Committee shall
recommend plans for the most efficacious use of all of these facil¬
ities in time of military emergency, giving due consideration to
the needs of other governmental agencies, of industry, and of other
civilian activities.
The duties of the State and Municipal Facilities Committee
will include the study of all phases of State and Municipal communi¬
cations facilitie s, including Municipal and State Police Radio Sta¬
tions, Inter-City Police Radio Stations, State Forestry Radio Sta¬
tions, Marine Fire Radio Stations, and State and municipally owned
or leased wire facilities. With the requirements of national defense
as a primary consideration, the committee shall recommend plans
for the most efficacious use of all of these facilities in time of
military emergency, giving due consideration to the needs of other
governmental agencies of industry, and of other civilian activities.
4
11/15/40
The duties of the Telegraph Committee will include the
study of all phases of landline record communications, both
domestic and connecting international landline services and facil¬
ities (except federally owned facilities) including leased line,
teletypewriter exchange, wire photo and facsimile services and
facilities. With the requirements of national defense as a primary
consideration, the Committee shall recommend plans for thefaiost
efficacious use of all of these services and facilities in time of
military emergency, giving due consideration to the needs of other
governmental agencies, of industry, and of other civilian activities
The duties of the Telephone Committee will include the
study of all chases of landline telephone communications, both
domestic and connecting international landline and submarine cable
telephone services and facilities (except federally owned facilities
With the requirements of national defense as a primary consideration
the Committee shall recommend plans for the most efficacious use of
all of these services and facilities in time of military emergency,
giving due consideration to the needs of other governmental agencies
of industry, and of other civilian activities.
The duties of the United States Government Facilities
Committee will include the study of all phases of non-military
governmental communications facilities with a view to possible mili¬
tary use and the coordination of these facilities including wire,
cable and radio facilities owned or leased for government operation,
with communications facilities of the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard.
With the requirements of national defense as a primary consideration
the committee shall recommend plans for the most efficacious use of
all of these facilities in time of military emergency, giving due
consideration to the needs of other governmental agencies, of
industry, and of other civilian activities.
The Labor Advisory Committee will consider labor problems
which pertain to communications in the national defense and will
not be a substitute for unions or federal agencies handling labor
problems. The Defense Communications Board is at present operating
without funds. Having been successful in doing this up to now, it
hopes it will not require any in the future.
xxxxxxxxx
MONOPOLY REPORT DEADLINE PASSED
Extending the final date for the filing of briefs on the
Monopoly report from Wednesday, November 11, to today (Friday,
November 15), Chairman James L. Fly said that there would be no
further extension.
Oral argument in this investigation by the FCC of chain
broadcasting will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, December 2nd and
3rd.
XXXXXXXXXXX
- 5 -
11/15/40
HOW ABOUT GIVING RADIO A CABINET POST?
In view of the fact that newspaper efforts are rewarded
and that it has long been the custom to appoint newspaper men to
high positions, notably in the present administration - Frank Knox,
publisher of the Chicago Daily News , Secretary of the Navy, and
Josephus Daniels, North Carolina newspaper publisher, Ambassador
to Mexico - it would seem appropriate that radio up to now unreward¬
ed, might well be recognized. President Roosevelt, noted for break¬
ing precedents, might even appoint someone from the radio industry
to the Cabinet. If so, he would have a large field of competent
men to draw upon.
Mr. Roosevelt might select Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. ,
of Chicago, as Secretary of the Navy. Explorer and long in the
Naval Reserve, one of the best known yachtsmen in the country,
Commander McDonald, though a radio manufacturer, was the organizer
and first president of the National Association of Broadcasters.
Gen. James G. Harbord, who was the Chief of Staff with General
Pershing in France, would make an A-No. 1 Secretary of War.
David Sarnoff, President of the Radio Corporation of
America, would fit in very well either as Secretary of Commerce or
Secretary of the Treasury. The same would go for Sosthenes Behn,
President of the International Telephone & Telegraph Company. Niles
Trammell, President of the National Broadcasting Company, would
make an excellent Postmaster General. For Attorney General, the
President would have the choice of at least three noted radio
lawyers - Thomas P. Littlepage, of Washington, Judge A. L. Ashby.,
Vice-President and General Counsel of the National Broadcasting
Company, and Louis G. Caldwell, of Washington, former Radio Commis¬
sion Chief Counsel.
Alfred H. McCosker, President of the Mutual Broadcasting
System, would be another live wire for the Postmaster General and
Donald Flamm, of WMCA, could make things pretty lively around the
Department of Commerce. Powel Crosley, Jr. , Cincinnati radio manu¬
facturer, broadcasting and baseball magnet, and William F. Paley,
President of the Columbia Broadcasting System, would be splendid
additions to our Diplomatic service - London, say, or Japan.
It would, indeed, be fitting to send Frank C. Page, Vice
President of the International Telephone & Telegraph Company, to
Great Britain for the post held during the World War by his dis¬
tinguished father, the late Walter Hines Page.
Harry C. Butcher, Vice-President of CBS and Frank M.
Russell, Vice-President of NBC, Washington representatives of their
respective networks, would likewise be splendid timber for high
office. Probably no two men in the country are more familiar with
what goes on behind the scenes in the National Capital than they.
XXXXXXXXX
6
hi ■ ' ... .i':-
11/15/40
SAY ASCAP FIGHT MAY CONTINUE BEYOND JAN. 1
It is predicted that the fight between the National
Association of Broadcasters and the American Society of Composers
will go right on up to the dead-line of December 31st and maybe
longer.
"If it does, the responsibility lies with the broad¬
casters", E. C. Mills, Chairman of the Administrative Committee of
ASCAP, who was in Washington last week, declared. "The Composers
stand willing, ready and anxious to negotiate at any time, any
place, anywhere with anybody on any basis. "
Mr. Mills charged that the National Association of Broad¬
casters’ participation was simply a smoke-screen.
"The issue is between ASCAP and the networks which have
never paid a cent to the Composers. The issue is not between ASCAP
and the independent broadcasting stations for whom the new formula
substantially reduces the rate to be paid. These stations would
not have to pay anything at all on network broadcasts. We are
merely trying to put the burden where the burden ought to be - on
the shoulders of the people getting the big money. The issue is so
simple that the broadcasters can’t permit it to be simple but must
make it appear complicated or else there would be nothing to argue
about. "
Asked if he intended to lodge complaints in Washington
because the broadcasters’ "blacked out" the recent ASCAP Music
Festival, which was not broadcast by any station except WNYC, the
Municipal Station in New York City, Mr. Mills said:
"We do not plan any protest to the Federal Communications
Commission. We are not going to make any protests either in refer¬
ence to the failure of the broadcasters to pick up the ASCAP pro¬
gram at the San Francisco Fair, or at the Fair here. In both
cases the public was deprived of the opportunity to hear programs
such as are never presented under any other auspices, and which will
perhaps never be heard again.
"These events speak for themselves, and an accumulation
of them is gathering such as I personally believe will some day
very seriously embarrass the men who are so short-sighted as to use
their radio facilities, and misuse their radio franchise in such a
manner. "
It was noted that Gene Buck, President of the American
Society of Composers, as usual, was the impressario at the annual
dinner given to the President by the National Press Club. In this
capacity at the Press Club and elsewhere, Mr. Buck has become well
acquainted with President Roosevelt and doubtless if the battle¬
ground between the Composers and the broadcasters were shifted to
Washington, Mr. Buck would undoubtedly be able personally to present
his side of the story to the President if he decided to do so.
XXXXXXXX
- 7
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11/15/40
SAYS U. S. PROGRAMS TO S. A. MISS MARK
U. S. Shortwave radio stations are taken for quite a
ride in a detailed article by Ray Josephs, Buenos Aires corres¬
pondent of Variety (November 15 issue) because of alleged failure
to make satisfactory progress in the international short-wave
battle with the Nazis and the Fascists to reach South American
ears. loir. Josephs states that many programs beamed to Latin-Amer-
ica by the 11 United States short-wave stations are practically
meaningless to South America.
XXXXXXXXXX
WMCA STARTS RADIO CLASSIFIED ADS
A program featuring classified advertisements made its
debut in New York radio over Station WMCA with the inauguration of
a daily series entitled "Reward for Listening" last Thursday
( November 14) .
For the use of small merchants, retail dealers, real
estate agents, help-wanted ads, lost and found announcements, etc. ,
time will be wold on a wordage basis.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
SHIP AND COASTAL SERVICE RULES CLARIFIED
Substitution of the term "limited (governmental)" for
"private" is involved in modification and clarification of the rules
governing ship and coastal services by action of the Federal Com¬
munications Commission, to become effective March 1, 1941. This
was prompted by the fact that the word "private" does not adequately
describe such a limited service station. A station of this class
is now restricted to use for governmental purposes and is available
to Federal, State, county and municipal agencies and to other per¬
sons or organizations only for the purpose of performing services
for such governmental units. Part 7 (coastal) and Part 8 (ship) of
the rules are affected.
Also, Sections 8.51 and 8.63 of the ship rules are chang¬
ed, and sections 8.72 and 8.73 are added, to permit more stringent
enforcement of the requirements with respect to the licensing and
operation of portable-mobile telephone and telegraph stations.
shortly.
The rules, as revised, will appear in mimeograph form
xxxxxxxx
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11/15/40
:: TRADE NOTES
The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in its "World
Radio Markets" series has just issued reports on Yugoslavia and
French Oceania.
Station WJR, at Detroit, went off the air last Tuesday
when winds of the blizzard which swept the West toppled its 733-
foot antenna tower.
;>ls_ ,
'As a souvenir of the dedication of the new WEAF trans¬
mitter, the NBC issued an 8 page rotogravure newspaper supplement
showing many pictures of the station and site, a pictorial history
of WEAF and all the stars that made it famous.
The Royal Canadian Air Force is seeking 1,000 radio
mechanics. Inquiries of those desiring to volunteer may be addressed
to Royal Canadian Air Force, Windsor, Canada.
Station WTAG at Worcester, Mass., has applied to the
Federal Communications Commission to increase its cower to 5 KW.
Station WTAR at Waterbury, Conn. , desires to go up to 1 KW.
Ralph H. Langle, E.E., formerly of WLW, at Cincinnati,
now consultant and specialist in patent matters, has removed his
midtown office to 50 East 42nd Street, New York City.
Monumental Radio Company reports that for the nine months
to September 30 a net income before depreciation and income tax
$141,430, according to figures filed with Securities and Exchange
Commission. In 1939 company had net income of $121,723, compared
with $97,358 net income for 1938.
Henry L. Mencken, Baltimore columnist, addressing the
Women's National Press Club, was quoted in the Washington Star as
saying that the radio had a greater following than the press.
"People don't read newspapers any more", Mr. Mencken added, "except
for the comic strips. "
Gen. James G. Harbord, Chairman of the Radio Corporation
of America, is leading the current Red Cross Roll Call in New York
City. General Harbord is Chairman of the New York Chapter of the
Red Cross.
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The American Tobacco Company, by way of backing up the
Broadcasters in the Composers' fight, has discontinued using
"Happy Days are Here Again" as a theme in the "Hit Parade". The
company has been paying a New York publicity company $100 a w^eek
for the use of this song.
With the recent affiliation of KGBU in Ketchikan to the
Mutual Broadcasting System, Alaska now has its first network radio
station. KGBU will re broadcast network programs on signals from
KOL, Seattle, and KMO, Tacoma.
At the same time that Mutual acquired its chilliest link,
it also added to its network a station in Scranton, Pennsylvania,
whose call letters are - WARM!
Financial affairs of the bankrupt Grigsby- Grunow Company
in Chicago, once one of the nation's top radio manufacturing con¬
cerns, were closed out in Federal Court last week. The total paid
in liquidation is 63.9 percent to bondholders and 40.7 to general
ere ditors.
The LaGuardia Field Crash Wagon in New York, in addition
to fire fighting equipment, has a radio receiving set fix- tuned to
the dispatcher in the tower of the Administration building and thus
is in touch at all times.
XXXXXXXXXX
WILL ROGERS WAS NOT HAPPY WITH RADIO
In the autobiography of the late Will Rogers appearing in
the Saturday Evening Post under the title "Uncle Clem's Boy", his
widow, Mrs. Betty Blake Rogers, writes:
"Will was never quite happy with radio, although he was one of
a very few on the air who submitted to no censorship. Since much of
his talk was extemporaneous, he needed an immediate audience to play
to. The microphone, or for that matter the motion-picture camera,
was a poor substitute.
"'They have a time getting me stopped on this radio thing',
he would explain over the air, f so I got an alarm clock here, and
when it goes off, brother, I quit - even if I'm right in the middle
of reciting Gunga Din or the Declaration of Independence. I wouldn't
need this alarm clock if I hadn' t been so dumb about this broadcast¬
ing. You see, everybody reads everything they do over the radio and
I'm going to learn it, but the trouble with me is I don't read very
well and I hate to go to the trouble of writing this out. If I ever
saw in print what I do say sometimes, I would be ashamed to say it. '
1"Will always insisted on an audience in the studio, but it
wasn't quite the same. He had to talk into the microphone and he
couldn't tell whether the people listening in were getting it or not.
But after the broadcast to countless people that he could neither
see nor hear, Will usually stayed on and talked for a while to the
audience of a hundred or so there in the studio. Often he was more
entertaining then for the next half-hour than he had just been in
the fifteen-minute broadcast for which he had received around $7,000.
XXXXXXXX -10-
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11/15/40
NEW MILLION DOLLAR NEC SAN FRANCISCO BUILDING-
'
Immediate construction of a new "NBC Building" in San
Francisco has just been authorized. Location of the structure will
be at the northeast corner of Taylor and O' Farrell Streets, in the
heart of the downtown business, hotel, club and theater district.
Except for a public garage in the basement and first floor, the
building will be devoted exclusively to broadcasting purposes.
The new building of reinforced concrete, will be an
adequate and efficient "studio and office building for KGO and KPO" ,
and will contain 52,800 square feet of floor space.
Four stories high and air-conditioned throughout, the new
radio headquarters will have no need for windows. Glass block sec¬
tions will serve for both exterior trim and daylight illumination
inside the building. The main entrance will be on Taylor Street,
near the Clift Hotel, and an imposing lobby will welcome the visi¬
tors. Seven display windows here will tell the story of radio and
its programs while elevators and a wide staircase lead to the upper
floors .
In appearance the "NBC Building" will be simple, dignified,
impressive. One wide belt of the block glass will rise at the left
of the entrance and connect with a horizontal belt of the same
material running the length of the structure on both streets. Other
narrower bands will mark the floors, breaking the walls. At night
these glass brick sections will be illuminated from within, giving
an interesting distinction to the building.
Except for the lobby, the street-level floor and base¬
ment will be occuped by "The Radio Garage", with space for 130
automobiles. Garage entrance and exit will be on the two streets
to facilitate traffic. _ _ _ • — v
XXXXXXXXXX
GEN. JOHNSON ON RISKY LIST?
The following is from Variety:
—
"Gen. Hugh Johnson has created an embarrassed silence
that will probably embarrass him hereafter. This is the result of
his injection on Election eve of the Jewish race and his unflatter¬
ing mimicry over WOR, New York, of Yiddish dialect .
"The embarrassed silence definitely mil have one result.
Johnson will be on the 'be careful' list of radio stations here¬
after, along with the padre of Royal Oak. Several affiliates have
already told their networks that 'Johnson is too risky'."
XXXXXXXXXX
11 -
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11/15/40
" DIRECT PICK-UP'1 IN COLOR TELEVISION ACHIEVED AT CBS
! f
Dr. Peter C. Goldmark, CBS Chief Television Engineer,
revealed to the Fall meeting of the Institute of Radio Engineers
at Rochester, N. Y. , that direct pick-up in color television has
been achieved experimentally in the Columbia Broadcasting System's
laboratories.
"Direct pick-up of full color television", Dr. Goldmark
said, "has definitely graduated from the drawing board and formula
stage, and appears to require only straightforward engineering
effort . "
With the particular equipment used in his experiments,
no more intense light level was required for color pick-up than has
been needed for black and white equipment in the CBS studios, Dr.
Goldmark added. Although it is probable that with the same kind
of equipment, color pick-up will require more light than if black
and white v/ere picked up alone, the amount of light needed does not
appear to present a problem.
Dr. Goldmark said his staff of engineers already is con¬
structing equipment with which it is hoped laboratory demonstrations
can be given for the Federal Communications Commission, the National
Television Systems Committee and the press.
"The results of our experiments", Dr. Goldmark declared,
! "are most encouraging and augur well for the complete practicability
of full color television. But I want it to be fully understood that
we are still in the laboratory."
XXXXXXXXXX
PILLOW SPEAKER WORRIES NAZIS
The "soft speaker" recently introduced by a radio manu¬
facturer in Germany is causing worry to Berlin. The device may be
plugged in to any radio set and, when placed under the pillow, can
be heard by the user of the pillow, and by no one else. The manu¬
facturer says it is for invalids, but Berlin fears that 'unscrupu¬
lous people" will use it for secret listening to foreign stations,
and that all those buying it cannot be invalids.
- Washington Star
xxxxxxxxxxxx
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
November 19, 1940
DUTCH RADIO COMPANY SEEKING- AMERICANIZATION
Although general sympathy is expressed for the plight of
Holland, the efforts which the philips Company of The Netherlands,
probably the greatest exporter of radio apparatus in the world, is
said to be making to establish itself as an American concern are
reported to be cool'y received here. This is attributed to the
sharp competition the Philips Company has given U. S. radio manu¬
facturers in foreign countries. Despite this, the great Dutch
company having been obliged to leave Holland almost overnight, is
now seeking recognition as an American concern and is making repre¬
sentations to the State and Treasury Departments to this end. By
way of officially establishing themselves in this country, the
Philips people are reported to have put the assets of all their
property outside of Europe and the British and French empires or
colonies in trust in the Hartford National Bank and Trust Company
in Hartford. Furthermore they have taken an entire floor in one
wing of a large New York hotel as their American headquarters.
Three American companies are understood to be manufactur¬
ing receiving sets for the Philips Company and two American con¬
cerns supply tubes. The sets, however, are being made according to
Philips’ specifications and with the proviso that they will be
offered in the export market only. Nevertheless, it is argued
that all of the above mentioned products are to be used in competi¬
tion to American exporters.
At least one Government official, a man apparently
thoroughly aware of the charges made against Philips of unfair
competition to American radio manufacturers in the past, seemed
unimpressed by the Philips' Americanization claim.
’’The question is, does putting assets in a Hartford bank
or establishing headquarters in New York necessarily make them an
American firm?" he said. "Probably it would be necessary that 51$
of the stock be owned by Americans. No doubt the situation is be¬
ing studied and the answer will be forthcoming before long. "
With regard to the alleged unfair competition angle, a
large radio manufacturer expressed himself in no uncertain terms.
"In the export of American radios the United States radio
industry has had practically no competition from foreign countries
with the exception of the Dutch Philips Company", this radio manu¬
facturer said. "Philips, by the most questionable methods, has
consistently taken business away from American manufacturers ell
over the world. For years this has been particularly true in the
European area where, through alleged patents, many of which are
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11/19/40
reported to have originated in the United States, they have kept
American manufacturers out of most European markets. It has not
been clean competition, what with interlocking directorate between
their own and American corporations. They are, likewise, building
up a patent situation in Argentina and other South American mar¬
kets which we may expect them to use against American manufactur¬
ers.
"The record indicates that they entered into contracts
with various European manufacturers stipulating that one of the
considerations of the contract would be that the said manufacturer
not purchase American tubes. Their legal representative is report¬
ed to have stated ’Our fight is against America'.
"They are reported to have put in over a million dollars
in the Argentine to gain control of that market, and to have en¬
deavored, through improperly stated information, to influence
government officials to limit the importation of American-made
tube s.
"The credits they extend are almost unheard of. Believe
me when I tell you that it has been the most vicious competition
that it has ever been my misfortune to encounter.
"And no longer being able to manufacture their products
in the Netherlands, seeking any port in a storm, and in spite of
everything they have done to us, they set up headquarters here and
have now made a deal, or a series of deals, in this country whereby
three American companies here are now all manufacturing Philips'
radios for Philips and these are to be used in competition to
American manufacturers.
"When we find an overseas competitor endeavoring to come
to our shores with a record like that, it would appear that the
Government should be in a position to take adequate steps to pro¬
tect American manufacturers and American labor against the apparent
lack of an ordinary knowledge of common ethics. "
According to the latest reports, the Philios Comoany is
still operating a manufacturing plant and assembly branches in
England, Dutch East Indies, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand,
Uruguay and Brazil. They are said to have given up any hope of
getting back their big plant at Eindhoven, which is now being run
full blast by the Germans. No matter how this may work out, the
representation of the Philios people to our Government is that they
desire to be permanently established as an American concern.
XXXXXXXXXX
3
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m
TO SPEND $8,000,000 TO SPUR TELEVISION
Development of television to a workable unified system
is being speeded by an aggregate of $8,000,000 which has been bud¬
geted for that purpose by some two score individuals and firms
which, to date, have been authorized by the Federal Communications
Commission to engage in such practical research and experimentation
on a nation-wide basis.
Expenditure of more than $3,000,000 is proposed by 10
television projects which received Commission approval last week.
Two of these grants are to the Hughes Productions Division of the
Hughes Tool Co., which has $2,000,000 available for stations in
Los Angeles and San Francisco. The establishment of Howard R.
Hughes, noted aviator, capitalist and movie producer, proooses to
experiment in program production development in cooperation with
Hughes Productions of Hollywood; study studio lighting effects;
seek improvement of television transmitters, cameras, and synchro¬
nizing generators; test transmission of various numbers of lines
between 421 and 525; compare different types of synchronizing sig¬
nals, and try FM (frequency modulation) for the sound accompanying
the pictures. In both cities the Hughes concern will operate on
Television Channel No. 2 (60,000-66,000 kilocycles) with 10 kilo¬
watts aural and visual power.
At the same time the Commission authorized like experi¬
mental operation for five other Los Angeles applicants:
Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. , to operate on
Channel No. 8 (162,000-168,000 kilocycles), 100 watts aural and
visual power; for the purpose of transmitting programs to ascer¬
tain public reaction and otherwise conducting a program of research
in Los Angeles in conjunction with that of its New York television
station.
Earle C. Anthony, Inc., to operate on Channel No. 6
(96,000-102,000 kilocycles), 1000 watts aural and visual power; to
study the relative merits of horizontal and vertical polarization
in the Los Angeles area, with particular study of the effect of
ignition and diathermy interference, and transmission over salt
water, to Catalina Island.
Leroy's Jewelers, to operate on Channel No. 10 (186, GOO-
192, 000) , 1000 watts aural and visual power; "to further improve
the quality of pictures transmitter by television from the stand¬
point of reception quality and to determine the system of televi¬
sion transmission which will produce the best results for wide¬
spread use from a visual and optical standpoint. "
May Department Stores Co., to operate on Channel No. 12
(210,000-216,000 kilocycles), with 1 kilowatt aural and visual
power, for general research and experimentation in the Los Angeles
area.
4
11/19/40
Television Productions, Inc. , a subsidiary of Paramount
Pictures, to operate a television relay station on Channels Nos. 13
and 14 (234,000-240,000; 240,000-246,000 kilocycles), 250 watts
visual power, to supplement television broadcast station W6XYZ,
also in Los Angeles, for which the applicant has a construction
permit. The latter, using Channel No. 4 (78,000-84,000 kilocycles),
proposes experimentation with the "DuMont standards " .
In addition, the Commission granted stations to New York,
Chicago, and Manhattan, Kans., as follows:
Metropolitan Television, Inc. , New York, to operate on
Channel No. 8 (162,000-168,000 kilocycles), 1 kilowatt aural and
visual power; to develop program techniques for determining public
tastes, including the use of two television theaters where daily
programs will be projected for free public viewing. This appli¬
cant is associated with two department stores, Bloomingdale Bros,
and Abraham & Straus.
Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., Chicago, to operate
on Channel No. 4 (78,000-84,000 kilocycles), 1 kilowatt aural and
visual power; to participate in CBS television research by develop¬
ing data on Chicago conditions that may assist in the ultimate
determination of polarization and synchronization for a national
television service.
Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science,
Manhattan, Kans., to use Channel No. 1 (50,000-56,000 kilocycles),
100 watts aural and visual power; to determine propagation char¬
acteristics, study horizontal and vertical polarization, and
experiment with various synchronizing systems using various numbers
of lines and frames.
These contemplated programs of research and experimenta¬
tion are pursuant to Commission requirements looking to development
of television to a point that will enable the industry to agree on
a uniform transmission system of acceptable technical quality.
Cooperation of the industry is further reflected in the
comprehensive survey of the television situation new being conduct¬
ed by the National Television Systems Committee. Organized last
July through the joint efforts of the Radio Manufacturers ' Associa¬
tion and the Commission, this Committee represents the pooled
engineering experience of the industry. Its various panels have
been making a detailed study of many phases of television.
The Commission yesterday designated Monday, January 27,
as the time to receive a formal over-all progress report from the
full Committee. Members of the Commission plan to visit the New
York area on January 24 to see late television developments first¬
hand prior to this conference with the National Television Systems
Committee .
5
11/19/40
An investment of $5,000,000 is represented in previous
television authorizations by the Commission. This list, which
shows wide distribution of facilities, includes Balaban & Katz
Corp. , Chicago; Bamberger Broadcasting Service, Inc., New York;
Columbia Broadcasting System, New York; Crosley Corporation,
Cincinnati; Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, New York, Washington
and Passaic, N. J. ; Don Lee Broadcasting System, Los Angeles,
Hollywood and San Francisco; First National Television, Inc.,
Kansas City, Mo.; General Electric Co., Schenectady; General Tele¬
vision Corporation, Boston; National Broadcasting Co., New York,
Philadelphia and Washington; RCA Manufacturing Co., Camden, N.J.;
Philco Radio & Television Corporation, Philadelphia; Purdue
University, West Lafayette, Ind. ; Radio Pictures, Long Island
City, N.Y. ; State University of Iowa, Iowa City; WCAU Broadcasting
Co., Philadelphia; Zenith Radio Corporation, Chicago, and The
Journal Co. , Milwaukee, Wis.
xxxxxxxxx
ASCAP VS. NAB: LAST INNING SCORE
With unrenewed contracts in the broadcast music dead¬
lock expiring December 31st, it won’t be long now until definite
results are known.
Edwin C. Mills, Chairman of the Administrative Committee
of the American Society of Composers, and Neville Miller, Presi¬
dent of the National Association of Broadcasters, present the
eleventh hour positions of these two strong organizations in the
November issue of Adve rtising and Selling.
Mr. Miller leads off as follows:
"The position which I set forth in your columns in the
issues of December 1939 and January 1940 remains unchanged. Since
that date, however, Broadcast Music, Inc., has made extraordinary
progress and has gained the loyal adherence not only of the broad¬
casting industry but of radio advertisers, who endorse its orinciples.
"Broadcast Music, Inc., has already published under its
own imprint approximately 300 selections and has, by contract with
other publishers, acquired performing rights in over 150,000 compo¬
sitions. A number of BMI compositions have been on the ‘Hit Parade'
and trade lists of most frequently performed compositions, and
sheet music and record best sellers are studded with the names of
BMI numbers. Over 85/ of the dollar volume of the broadcasting
industry is now represented among BMI subscribers, and the list
grows steadily. A majority of the stations in the country are
enrolled with. BMI, - 40/ of the 100 and 250 watt stations, 55/ of
the 500 and 1000 watt stations, 70/ of the 1 kilowatt to 5 kilo¬
watt stations, and 90/ of the stations having over 5 kilowatt
power are on the BMI roster. This is a representative cross-sec¬
tion of the entire industry, and networks own only 23 percent of
the BMI stock.
6
\
11/19/40
"The volume of ASCAP music on programs has already been
drastically reduced, and the use of A3CA? music is daily decreas¬
ing. Advertisers are changing from theme songs owned by ASCAP to
theme songs owned by advertisers. The entire industry is orepar-
ing itself for the withdrawal by ASCAP of its music, and broadcast¬
ing will go on with undiminished interest and success after January
1st. What has caused the almost universal support of 3MI and the
fine unity of its adherence is a principle which is not open to
successful challenge.
"The broadcasters will no longer tolerate a system under
which they pay a percentage of the revenue derived from programs
which use no note of ASCAP music. This is a vice with respect to
pro0rams which use no music at all. It is an equal, if not great¬
er, vice with respect to programs using non- ASCAP writers. So
long as ASCAP demands the same pay from programs which do not use
ASCAP music as for programs which do use ASCAP music, they dis¬
courage the payment of non-ASCAP writers and thus oerpetuate their
monopoly. The industry will consider no proposition from ASCAP
which perpetuates this vicious practice.
"Moreover, an examination of ASCAP* s internal structure
tends more and more to tear the mask from its avowed philanthropic
aims. Of the $6,000,000 which ASCAP collected in 1938, less than
$60,000 was divided among more than 700 of ASCAP* s thousand writer
members. In other words, one cent out of every dollar that ASCAP
collected went to the bulk of its writer membership. The broad¬
casting industry faces January 1st with calm, confident determina¬
tion that it will not enter any comoromise which peroetuates
organized monopoly. "
Mr. Mills replies:
"The reply of NAB in behalf of the networks to ASCAP* s
demand for reasonable payment for its license was the formation of
Broadcast Music, Inc. The publicity branch of that organization
has issued glowing success stories of its operation. But they have
somehow omitted to state that orchestra leaders are compelled to
play B.M.I. numbers * or else*. Naturally, these numbers become
'most played', but this fact is irrelevant to the issues.
"Under compulsion of their employers, the musicians and
artists are required to play B.M.I. tunes whether they or the pub¬
lic like them or not. In fact, they have been notified that the
ratio of B.M.I. to ASCAP compositions must be increased.
"Another misimpression which the broadcasters publicize
comes from their insistence that they will refuse to pay a she re of
the revenue from programs on which ASCAP music is not played. Of
course, this is simply a pose for propaganda purposes that goes to
becloud the real issues. ASCAP* s license makes its entire reper¬
toire available under a blanket license for use at will on all pro-
grsjms. ASCAP sells 'readiness to serve* all programs - sells the
true and real support which makes possible 'spot announcements’ -
’soap operas' - and the hodge-podge of non-musical commercial pro¬
grams which, of themselves and without the support of intervening
musical programs would never hold or build radio audiences. It is
most interesting to observe that B.M.I. licenses its repertoire
upon exactly the same 'vicious* basis - a blanket fee for a blanket
7
11/19/40
use - regardless of the content of individual programs. They
criticize and condemn our method - but, unable to find a better-
they copy it.
"Two themes are played endlessly in the broadcasters1
publicity: the charge that ASCAP is monopolistic and that division
of its revenue is unfair.
"On the point of monopoly: Who is it that calls ASCAP -
(a voluntary unincoprotated, non-profit association of song writers
and their publishers) - monopolistic? And, after the broadcasters’
publicity has boasted that B.M. I. has such a sufficient repertoire
of music as to prove the reverse.’
"But perhaps on this point the Federal Communications
Commission should be heard. Read the press release (#41550) dated
June twelfth, of the Commission entitled "CHAIN BROADCASTING- ABUSES
CITED" - 'During the past ten years networks have so developed that
today programs are broadcast to the general public, not by the
stations whose owners * * * received licenses for such a privilege,
but through the network organizations. The record shows that net¬
work organizations today are utilizing about 48/ of the broadcast
time of more than 50/ of the commercial stations * * Never for¬
get that the issue in this controversy is between the networks (not
the ’industry’) and ASCAP. Never forget that the networks as such
have never paid a single cent to ASCAP - that is the issue.
"And what ’ s this about the division of ASCAP ’s income:
This is a problem which concerns our own members exclusively. For
a quarter of a century they have seemed fairly satisfied with their
own manner of dividing their own money. They ask no questions
about how the broadcasters divide their revenues - though they know
that of 44 million dollars collected by Columbia and NBC in 1958
for network broadcasts only 12 million was paid out to 235 connect¬
ed stations, and of this about 6 million or half was paid to 23 of
them, the other half to 212. But that's none of our business - and -
vice versa. "
XXXXXXXXXX
DILL APPARENTLY BEATEN FOR GOVERNORSHIP
Even now the fate of former Senator Clarence C. Dill in
his race for Governor of the State of Washington seems uncertain.
According to the latest news dispatch from Seattle, Mayor Arthur
Langlie, Seattle Republican, captured the absentee ballot count
in the Pierce County stronghold of Senator Dill, and the Post-
Intelligencer said Mr. Langlie had been elected Governor. Mayor
Langlie ' s lead increased hourly as the counting continued. He had
a lead of 3,400 over his Democratic opponent with more than half of
the State's absentee ballots counted.
XXXXXXXX
NOTE: DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE GOVERNMENT OFFICES WILL EE
CLOSED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, THERE WILL BE NO ISSUE OF THIS
SERVICE ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22.
R. D He ini
XXXXXXXX
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11/19/40
TO OFFER RADIO PRIZES LIKE PULITZER
With the idea of making annual radio awards on much the
same basis as Pulitzer Prizes are given to outstanding newspaper
and literary accomplishment, the University of Georgia at Athene
has named the following to the George Foster Peabody Radio Awards
Advisory Board:
Dr. S V. Sanford, Chancellor, University System of
Georgia; Bruce Barton, President, Batten, Barton, Durstlne &
Osborn, advertising, New York City; John H. Benson, President,
American Association of Advertising Agencies, New York City;
Virginius Dabney, editor, Richmond (Va. ) Time s- Dispatch; Jonathan
Daniels, editor, Raleigh (N. C. ) News and Observer; Mark F. Ether¬
idge, General Manager, Louisville (Ky. ) Courier- Journal and Times;
Waldemar Kaempffert, Science Editor, The New York Times; Alfred A.
Knopf, publisher, New York City; Dr. John W. Studebaker, United
States Commissioner of Education; Mrs. Marjorie Peabody Waite,
daughter of George Foster Peabody, of Saratoga Sorings, N. Y. ;
and Edward Weeks, editor, The Atlantic Monthly, Boston, Mass.
The prizes will be awarded beginning next year.
xxxxxxxxx
MCDONALD URGES GLIDER TRAINING FOR YOUTH
In a leading article, ’’Silent Wings” in the November 30th
issue of Collier’ s, advocating the use of gliders for experimenta¬
tion purposes, Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. , of Chicago, will
advance the idea that the youth of the country, if given a chance,
can do for aviation what they have done for radio. He tells what
marvelous training the glider is for pilots. It is his theory that
if we can let the young people of the country have these motorless
planes to experiment with at a cost to fit their pock-books, a
thing he says we have Just got to do, that they will do the rest.
It is hoped that Commander McDonald in the forthcoming
article will tell his own experience with a glider. In a moment
of enthusiasm at a recent test, he volunteered to go up. Before
he hardly knew It, the Chicagoan found himself a hundred feet in
the air with not the slightest Idea ofhow he could get back to
earth without breaking his neck.
Commander McDonald’s article in Collier's will be on
the news-stands November 22nd.
xxxxxxxx
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FCC QUIZZES 227 STATIONS ON MONOPOLY BRIEF
All 227 member stations of Independent Radio Network
Affiliates, Inc. , have been asked by the Monopoly Committee of
the Federal Communications Commission whether they agree with a
brief filed in the radio monopoly investigation on behalf of the
Association.
The brief, which severely attacked conclusions and recom¬
mendations of the Committee, was filed for the Association by its
counsel, Paul M. Segal.
Four questions are asked station operators in the tele¬
gram: First, whether the brief was authorized by them; second,
whether they approved the brief; third, if they did not approve
the brief, whether they subscribed to its views, and, fourth,
whether the brief represented the position of the station.
The brief of the affiliates was one of three which criti¬
cized the FCC Committee. The others were from the Columbia Broad¬
casting System and the National Broadcasting Co. , which serve the
affiliates. Another brief, filed by the Mutual Broadcasting System,
rather supports the Committee. Mutual's complaint that it was
unable to get satisfactory outlets in various communities because
of the alleged dominance of the two major chains was a factor in
prompting the Committee's investigation. The tenor of the briefs
filed presages a bitter fight against the Committee report, which
now is before the Commission for action.
The Columbia brief charged the Committee report is based
on bias and a zeal for reform unrelated to the actual operation of
radio, the adoption of which by the Commission would result in a
breakdown of the high-class programs made possible by the chain
systems.
Counsel for NBC said the report misconceives the nature
of the broadcasting business, and adds that it proposes that the
Commission exercise its powers in the licensing of stations in
order to accomplish, indirectly and unlawfully, a result which it
could not accomplish either directly or lawfully. It said that the
Committee's proposals are neither novel nor sound.
XXXXXXXX
^ CAPITAL TO CELEBRATE RADIO'S BIRTHDAY
Topping off a series of dinners around the country in
celebration of radio's twentieth anniversary, local Washington
radio stations, the Radio Manufacturers' Association and the NAB
will co-sponsor a dinner to be held Tuesday evening, November 26.
The President, members of his Cabinet, members of Congress, the FCC
and high government, Army and Navy officials, as well as outstanding
figures in all walks of public life will be invited.
While other network programs may be scheduled, Mutual
has already cleared 9:30 to 10:00 P.M. , EST, for a special broad¬
cast of the American Forum of the Air, to be broadcast direct from
the banquet hall, ere sided over by its founder, Theodore G-rannik.
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11/19/40
TRADE NOTES
Telegraph service between the United States and Alsace
Lorraine has been restored, according to the Mackay Radio and
Telegraph Company, which is now handling messages for this terri¬
tory, including such important points as Strasbourg and Metz. The
service is operated by direct radiotelegraph between New York and
Vienna and by telegraph to Alsace Lorraine. Rates are the same
as to Germany.
International Station WRUW, of the International Broad¬
casting Company, Boston, partially endowed by the Rockefeller
Foundation, has been authorized to increase its power from 20 to
50 KW.
Harry MacFayden, a production director for the National
Broadcasting Company for the last eight years and an actor and
director who had been associated with the American stage for almost
forty years, died last Wednesday in New York City after a brief _
illness. He was 59 years old.
Station KFUO, Evangelical Luthem Synod of Missouri, Ohio
and other States, at Clayton, Missouri, has been granted a construc¬
tion permit to install new transmitter and increase its power from
1 KW to 5 KW, on 830 kilocycles, operating from local sunrise to
sunset at Denver, Colo.
The Fort Industry Company operators of Station WSPD,
Toledo, Ohio, announces the removal of its executive offices from
the Commodore Perry Hotel in Toledo to the second floor of its own
Broadcast Building, 136 Huron Street, Toledo.
Frequency modulation broadcasting, commonly called FM
high-fidelity, staticless radio, will be inaugurated by the General
Electric Company, Wednesday evening, November 20, when its experi¬
mental station, W2X0Y, located in the Helderbergs 12 miles from
Schenectady, will begin a regular schedule of seven hours daily.
Short talks will be given by Charles E. Wilson, President of
General Electric, and Dr. W. R. G. Baker, Blanager of the company’s
radio and television department and Chairman of the National
Television Systems Committee. ^
WOR is now re broadcasting important programs at the con¬
clusion of the usual night's operations. This began on Armistice
Day when President Roosevelt's address at Arlington was rebroed-
cast at 9:30 P . M. and again at 2 A.M. ; and when Wendell Willkie ' s
speech was re broadcast at 2:10 A.M.
XXXXXXXXX
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11/19/40
CBS'S COMPENSATION & RE-EMPLOYMENT PLAN FOR THOSE IN U.3. SERVICE
Salary and insurance payments for employees of the
Columbia Broadcasting System who are called into active military
service, together with a company policy for their subsequent re¬
employment, were announced last week. The CBS plan provides for
the payment of from one month's to six month's aalary for all
regular full-time employees, based upon the term of their employ¬
ment by the company prior to the date of entering the armed ser¬
vices of the United States, according to the following scale:
Less than 1 year's employment - 1 month's salary; more
than 1 year and less than 3 years' employment - 2 months' salary;
more than 3 years and less than 4 years' employment - 3 months'
salary; more than 4 years and less than 5 years' employment -
4 months' salary; more than 5 years and less than 6 years' employ¬
ment - 5 months' salary; and more than 6 years' employment - 6
months1 salary.
In addition to these salary payments, the comoany will
assume the cost of premiums payable by employees under its coopera'
tive insurance program during the required year of military train¬
ing.
The CBS plan for re-employment of staff members after
the termination of their military service provides that it will
be the policy of the company, except in unforeseen circumstances,
to reinstate employees in the positions which they previously
occupied.
XXXXXXXXX
NAZIS SWITCH STATIONS IN RAIDS
In connection with the Royal Air Force's raids on
German and Italian objectives, it is pointed out in a newspaper
dispatch from London, that German wireless stations which formerly
went off the air when British planes were overhead are now using
a new technique permitting them to continue broadcasting during
raids.
The technique is the simple one of switching broadcasts
from one sending station to another unaffected by the raids. Thus
the fact that these stations continue broadcasting nightly does
not hoodwink those manning "listening posts" in London into think¬
ing R. A. F. bombers are inactive over Germany.
X X X X X X X
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
INDEX TO ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 26, 1940
Industry Prepares For Monopoly Battle . 2
FCC Confirms Great Lakes Radio Rate Case Ruling.
National Frequency Broadcasts Resumed After Fire
FCC Grants Power Increases; Other Applicants . 5
Germany Intensifies S-W Propaganda To U. S . 6
One-Man Peace Foundation Request Denied . 7
Cuba Estimated To Have 200,000 Sets . 8
Trade Notes . 9
McDonald Advocates Gliders u0r Air Training . 10
Manufacturers To Scrutinize Own Ads . 11
Pittsburgh To Have Radio Weekly . 11
Transradio Accused In Dies Report . 12
G. E. Shows Its Television Colors . 12
No. 1284
4* 4^
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.
November 26, 1940
INDUSTRY PREPARES FOR MONOPOLY BATTLE
Following a barrage of brickbats hurled at the 1800 page
Federal Communications Commission Committee’s chain broadcasting
report, oral arguments will be heard Monday, December 2, subsequent
to the filing of the final briefs. Among the Committee's conclu¬
sions tardily submitted last June when it was openly charged by
Congress that it was stalling, were that networks be licensed, that
exclusive network affiliate contracts be banned and that the FCC,
in effect, supervise the dealings of the stations and networks. It
was largely because of the displeasure of Congress in the way that
the FCC handled this report that the Senate refused to confirm
Col. Thad Brown, one of the signers of the report, for reappointment
to the Commission.
Vigorous objections to the report were voiced by all the
networks except Mutual but the one that really got the Commission's
goat was submitted by Paul Segal on behalf of the Independent Radio
Network Affiliates. Chairman James L. Fly apparently went into a
tantrum on this and ordered T. J. Slowie, Secretary, to wire each
of the IRNA members as to whether Segal's brief was authorized by
them and whether it reflected the position of their station.
In response to this, Mark Ethridge, of Station WHAS,
Louisville, and former President of the National Association of
Broadcasters, banged back with the hottest telegram anybody ever
sent to Chairman Fly. In further defiance, Mr. Ethridge added that
he was sending a carbon of the telegram to President Roosevelt. It
read:
"Dear Mr. Fly:
"I have sent the following wire to Mr. Slowie, in response
to his wire of yesterday:
"'WHAS was represented at the San Francisco Convention,
which instructed the officers and directors of IRNA to file a
brief setting out the attitude of stations toward the Monopoly
Committee's report. The brief was subnitted to us for approval
and we approve. '
"I do want to protest to you, however, as Chairman of the
Commission, what I consider to be intimidation. Whether the wire
had that purpose, its wording and its preemptory nature will cer¬
tainly have that effect. I do not know any reason why the stations
affiliated with the networks should not make their position known
to the full Commission, particularly when a report of a committee
of the Commission charges, in effect, that the stations are not ful¬
filling their public duty.
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"The full Commission, you told me, has not had the oppor¬
tunity to study the question and has set oral arguments for the
purpose of receiving further information and views. It seems to me
that the Commission would welcome a statement of the position of
affiliates, no matter whether it embraced that position or not.
"If the Commission was interested in knowing whom Mr.
Segal represented, it could have required from him written author¬
ization of signatures to the brief; or when he appeared to argue it,
could have required him to make a showing of representation; or
could have denied him the right to be heard if he could not make a
showing. As a lawyer I know you will recognize that as a fair and
just and regular procedure.
"I do not believe the Commission as a whole would ever
have authorized such a telegram as was sent out. I must say that
it strikes me as a violent departure from any procedure of demo¬
cratic government.
"I cannot refrain from adding a more personal word. As
you may know, I was a New Dealer before anybody in the present
admini stra.tion ever said he was, and all my adult life I have fought
the same sort of evils you have. Moreover, I have done all I could
in the radio industry to bring it to an acceptance of the necessity
and desirability of regulation. But this sort of thing seems to me
irresponsible regulation and, worse than that, a form of tyranny
which I do not like in any form.
"Sincerely yours,
(Signed) Mark Ethridge"
Because of the fact that only oral arguments will be pre¬
sented and that no witnesses are to be heard, the announcement
stipulated only two days for the hearing scheduled to begin next
Monday. If, however, especially in view of the storm of protests
raised, they finish in that length of time, it will be a world’s
record for the FCC which has a way of drawing things out. The tele¬
vision hearings were only scheduled to last a couple of days but
lasted more nearly a couple of weeks.
Also it was said at the Commission (Nov. 25) that there
would be no postponement, as had been rumored, but that the hearings
would go ahead as scheduled December 2.
XXXXXXXX
The N. Y. Consolidated Edison Company keeps hammering away
in its advertising at what one cent’s worth of electricity will buy,
including always a reference to radio, the one recently reading:
"One penny’s worth of electricity will bring you a whole world of
radio entertainment for nearly four hours. "
XXXXXXXX
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11/26/40
FCC CONFIRMS GREAT LAKES RADIO RATE CASE RULING
The Lorain County (Ohio) Radio Corporation and Thome
Donnelley, the latter doing business as Donnelley Radio Teleohone
Company, must refrain from certain illegal rate practices in con¬
nection with radiotelephone service between their land stations and
ships on the Great Lakes as a result of the Federal Communications
Commission making final its proposed report made oublic October 9th,
at which time the FCC found unreasonable the rate schedules of $25
a month ready-to-serve charge per ship plus charges of 75/ to $1.00
for each three minute message, and another rate of $1.50 per message
for occasional users of radiotelephone service between ships on the
great Lakes and Lorain Corporation stations at Lorain, Ohio, Duluth,
and Port Washington, Wisconsin.
The Lorain Corporation is further required to cancel its
tariff schedules providing for the ready-to-serve charge of $25 a
month, on or before February 1, upon notice to the Commission and
to the general public by not less than 30 days' filing and posting
in the manner prescribed by the Communications Act and Commission
rules and regulations.
No party to the proceedings having filed exceptions to
the proposed report, the final order is made effective December 23.
xxxxxxxxx
NATIONAL FREQUENCY BROADCASTS RESUMED AFTER FIRE
Following the destruction by fire of the standard frequency
station WWV of the National Bureau of Standards, a temporary trans¬
mitter was established in another building which Dr. J. H. Dellinger
now advises has begun a reduced service. It broadcasts the frequency
five megacycles ( = 5000 kilocycles) per second, every day (except
Sunday) from 10 A.M. to midnight. This is continuous-wave only,
with telegraphic code announcements of the call letters WWV every
20 minutes. The accuracy of the frequency is the same as in the
past, viz, better than a part in ten million.
The broadcast is from a 1-kilowatt transmitter. Generally
speaking, it is most useful for moderate distances in the daytime
and long distances at night. More precisely: for receotion in
locations reasonably free from interference, it is receivable at
all distances up to 1000 miles from Washington in the middle of the
day. The distance range increases after about 4 P.M. (E3T) until at
night the broadcast is receivable throughout the United States;
sometimes at night it may be difficult to receive it at distances
between 50 and 500 miles while it is easy to receive it beyond 500
railes. In the spring the daytime distance range will decrease,
dropping to about 500 miles in the summer.
4
11/26/40
This restricted service will continue for some months.
As rapidly as possible the Bureau will establish a new station to
provide more fully than in the past standard frequencies receivable
at all times throughout the country. These will include standard
radio frequencies, standard seconds pulses, and the standa.rd of
musical pitch, 440 cycles per second, which will unfortunately not
be available during the period in which the temporary transmitter
is used.
XXXXXXXX
FCC GRANTS POWER INCREASES; OTHER APPLICANTS
The following stations have been granted power increases
by the Federal Communications Commission:
Station WTSP, Pinellas Broadcasting Co., increased to
1 KW LS, 500 watts night; Station WJBO, Baton Rouge Broadcasting
Co. , Inc. , Baton Rouge, La. , to 5 KW; Station WISN, Hearst Radio,
Inc., Milwaukee, Wis. , increased to 5 KW; Station WORL, Broadcasting
Service Organization, Inc. , Boston, Mass. , increased to 1 KW daytime
only,; WDEL, WDEL, Inc., Wilmington, Del., increased to 5 KW; WAPO,
W. A. Patterson, Chattanooga, Tenn. , to 1 KW night, 5 KW LS.
The Commission also granted a construction permit for a
new station to the Kokomo Broadcasting Corp. , Kokomo, Ind. , on 1420
kc. , 250 watts, unlimited time.
Two more stations - WINS, Hearst Radio, Inc., New York
City, and KQW, Pacific Agricultural Foundation, Ltd., San Jose,
Calif. , desire to increase their power to 50 KW. Station WRCA, the
NBC international broadcasting station at Bound Brook, N. J. , has
asked for an additional 35 kilowatts, making an effective operating
power of 70 kilowatts, using 9670 kc. , for its short-wave service
"throughout the world.
Other applicants for higher power are WM3R, Florida Broad¬
casting Co., Jacksonville, Fla., seeking 10 KW; Station WCAO, Monu¬
mental Radio Co. , Baltimore, Md. , seeking 5 KW; Station WTAG,
Worcester Telegram Publishing Co., Worcester, Mass., the same;
Station WSOY, Commodore Broadcasting, Inc., Decatur, Ill., 1 KW
night.
Arthur Lucas and William K. Jenkins, doing business as
the Chattahoochee Broadcasting Co. , Columbus, Ga. , have applied for
a new station on 1420 kc. , 250 watts, unlimited time.
The Travelers Broadcasting Service Corp. , Hartford, Conn. ,
was granted construction permit for new high frequency (FM) broad¬
cast station to operate on frequency 45,300 kc. , with coverage of
6,100 square miles; General Electric Co., Schenectady, N.Y., was
granted the same to operate on frequency to be specified to serve
area of 6,600 square miles.
X X X X X X X
- 5 -
11/26/40
GERMANY INTENSIFIES S-W PROPAGANDA TO U. S.
There are progressively more detailed attacks on American
institutions, leaders and attitudes on international affairs, in
propaganda from Germany directed at the United States through broad¬
casts of the German short-wave radio stations according to the
Princeton Listening Center. The Listening Center is a project of
the School of Public and International Affairs of Princeton Univer¬
sity, and is financed by the Rockefeller Foundation. It was
established to study European international Broadcasting in wartime,
with particular reference to broadcasts directed to the United
State s.
Princeton listeners declare that direct pressure on
listener-opinion has been conspicuously increased in German short¬
wave broadcasts to America. In many respects, they say, these
broadcasts are strikingly reminiscent of the first phase in Lord
Haw-Haw's campaign against British morale. Approximately 16 com¬
mentators and actors on the German short-wave radio, which most any
good set is capable of picking up and hearing clearly in the United
States, are engaged in trying to arouse American opinion against
"the measures short of war” taken by the United States on behalf of
the opponents of Germany.
According to the Princeton report, Fred W. Kaltenbach,
reputedly in charge of the broadcasts to this country, is a native
of Iowa. According to his own testimony, he is the son of a German
immigrant and served as a lieutenant in the United States Coast
Artillery during the last war. Dr. Otto Koischwitz, another German
commentator, was a former member of the faculty of Hunter College in
New York City.
The Princeton listeners state that the direct kinds of
pressure radiated from Berlin to North America are divided into
Containing condemnation of Britain in her relations with
the United States;
Containing praise of America and things American;
Containing praise of Germany for her relations with the
United States, for her national character or her internal
institutions; and
Containing criticism of American and things American. n
Although this Report has dealt thus far with German
broadcasts to the United States only, certain characteristics have
appeared which parallel broadcasts to other countries: France and
Britain. Certain characteristics of the German technique may now
be set forth:
those -
"(1)
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"1) The basic aim of German broadcasts was to inhibit
or paralyze action unfavorable to Germany and to encourage those
attitudes and actions which might be turned to German use.
”2) Although provision was made for other audiences,
German broadcasts directed their primary efforts toward the masses.
"3) The radio voices of Berlin were those of the country
being addressed.
,f4) The initial approach of the Berlin radio to its
audiences was a friendly one.
"5) Appeals were based on the self-interest of each
audience, and so presented as to appear framed out of consideration
of what was good for the country of reception.
”6) At times of crisis, the German radio attempted to
frighten various countries of reception by exaggerating the crisis
beyond its action proportions.
”7) The German radio sought to distract the attention
of its audiences from events abroad by the discussion of purely
domestic issues.
”8) A constant attempt of German broadcasts was to divide,
confuse and atomize the opposition to the Reich.
'*9) German broadcasts frequently foreshadowed German ac¬
tion and official statements of policy.
XXXXXXXXX
ONE-MAN PEACE FOUNDATION REQUEST DENIED
Upon basis of unsatisfactory showing that the proposed
experimental work would be in the interests of the public or the
radio industry, the Federal Communications Commission has denied
the amended aoplication of the World Peace Foundation (Abraham
Binneweg, Jr.") for a construction permit to erect a new develop¬
mental broadcast station at Oakland, Calif. , and to operate port¬
able mobile.
The Commission points out that the applicant, World Peace
Foundation, is not in fact an existing organization, but is merely
a name which Abraham Binneweg, Jr., expects to establish to be used
in connection with his future plans in radio.
XXXXXXXXX
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11/26/40
CUBA ESTIMATED TO HAVE 200,000 SETS
Although there have been no attempts to make a direct
survey or census of radio sets in use in Cuba, a report made to the
Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce by Assistant Commercial
Attache Charles H. Ducote, at Havana, the conclusion is reached
that at the end of 1939, there were in use about 150,000 socket
power sets. The estimated number of battery and crystal sets is
50,000.
Annual sales of sets are believed to approximate the
importations as dealers make a strong effort to close out their
stocks before new models come in. Last year's sales are consider¬
ed to have approximated 26,000 sets, as compared with about 23,000
in 1938.
Although a larger number of sets were sold in 1939 than
in the previous year, the dollar value of sales was lower. General
economic conditions on the island during 1939 were less satisfact¬
ory than in 1938 and business volume as a whole was less by a small
percentage.
Last year Imports of radio sets consisted of about 50
brands. Practically ail of the import manufacturers in the United
States are represented in Cuba, and in consequence comoetition is
active and keen. The two leading brands account for about 46 percent
of total sales and the first 6 makes over 70 percent.
No separate statistics as to the proportion of imports of
sets or of automobiles represented by separate or installed automo¬
bile sets are available. Automobile registrations numbered 27,679
at the end of 1939, including public vehicles. Dealers are of the
opinion that the number of cars equipped with radio has steadily
increased; current estimates are that about 10 percent now have sets
installed. Distributors consider that the potential demand is very
large.
One of the important afternoon daily newspapers in Havana
has given some consideration to facsimile broadcasting, but radio
distributors do not expect a sufficient public interest to be opti¬
mistic about a market for receivers. Frequent news broadcasts, to¬
gether with newspapers in the Spanish and English languages, con¬
tribute to the limitations on interest.
There is no domestic radio industry, and imports of parts
are confined to servicing requirements. Imports of parts total
$50,000 to $60,000 annually. Those most required are transformers,
fixed condensers, variable condensers, fixed resistances, and simi¬
lar items.
XXXXXXXXX
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11/26/40
TRADE NOTES
The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled a
conference of engineers for Monday, December 9, at the Commission
in Washington to discuss power range of FM transmitters, perform¬
ance of audio amplification equipment and other high frequency
problems having to do with FM.
Gross factory sales of Philco Corp., exclusive of its
Canadian subsidiary, amounted to $40, 933, 890 in the first 10 months
of 1940, as compared with $32,888,700 in the corresponding period
of last year, an increase of 24 percent, it was announced by Larry
E. Gubb, Executive Vice President of the Philco Corp.
Harris E. Yarbrough, Jr. , an amateur operating Station
W5IPC at Dallas, Texas, has had his license suspended for three
months for re-transmitting programs from Station KRLD at Dallas,
and causing interference to the reception of certain radio broad¬
cast programs.
The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce has issued
"Radio, Telephone, Telegraph” bulletins (formerly ”World Radio
Markets”) on the British Cable System, Bolivia, Liberia and
Afghanistan.
Equipment of autos with radios by manufacturers on cars
for the American market totalled 1,359,876 sets in 1939, the Census
Bureau reports.
R.C.A. Communications, Inc., at Bolinas, Calif., has been
granted temporary authority by the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion to communicate with the Radio Administration of the USSR at
Khabarovsk, Russia, for the purpose of determining the effective¬
ness of available communicating facilities between Khabarovsk and
San Francisco.
United Airlines are all set to relay to Station WLS, the
broadcast of the "Flight of Santa Claus into Chicago” on 22790 kc.
Applications for the following attorneys to practice
before the Federal Communications Commission were approved:
Franklin Cary Salsbury, Cleveland, Ohio, and Victor R. Wolder,
New York City.
9
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11/26/40
Ten new stations will join the NBC Blue Network in the
South December 15. They are: WGAC, Augusta, Ga. , WCBT, Roanoke
Rapids, N.C. , WEED, Rocky Mount, N. C. ; WMFD, Wilmington, N. C. ;
WMFR, High Point, N. C. , WGNC, Gastonia, N.C. , WHKY, Hickory, N. C. ;
WCOS, Columbia, S. C. , WJHL, Johnson City, Term. , and WHIS, Blue-
field, W. Va.
The General Electric Company at New Scotland, N. Y. , has
been authorized to change the channel of its relay television sta¬
tion to 162,000-168,000 kc.
XXXXXXXXXX
McDonald advocates gliders for air training
A cure for a possible future shortage of pilots to fly
the thousands of bombers, pursuit ships, fighters and reconnaissance
planes to result from the workings of the defense program, is pro¬
posed by Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. , well-known radio manufactur¬
er of Chicago, in an article entitled "Silent Wings" appearing in
the November 30th issue of Colliers now on the news-stands.
America may well take a lesson from the Nazis and train
hundreds of thousands of young pilots in inexpensive motorless
gliders, states Commander McDonald. The ink was hardly dry on the
Versailles Treaty before Germany started encouraging her boys to
soar. "The defense of America is guaranteed", says Commander
McDonald, "if over the plains of New York and Jersey and Iowa and
Texas American boys learn to soar the air. "
He claims beginners can start their training more safely
and with less expense in gliders than in motor-driven planes, and
that glider trained pilots are eventually more at home in the air
when they graduate to motorized ships because they know their air
currents more intimately. To supoort these statements he quotes
from well-known airmen, among them Captain Eddie Rickenbacker;
Maj. R. W. Schroeder, Vice President of United Airlines; Maj. A1
Williams, well-known aeronautical writer, and others.
The author calls attention to the fact that America has
54,000 radio amateurs, an abundance of born radio operators for our
Signal Corps who can service and operate radio transmitters and
receivers without any training except in the technique of war com¬
munications, and points out that this is a fact because these "hams"
were permitted to tinker with coils of wire, tubes and condensers
at will. He pleads that American youth be given a chance to emerge
from the "rubber band" stage of model airplane building and be allow¬
ed to fly real planes, inexpensive motorless planes, which he says
are well within the means of many individuals. For those who cannot
afford an individual glider, his solution is the formation of thous¬
ands of glider clubs, either under government or community subsidy.
Much informative material is given showing how such groups can be
quickly organized at little exoense.
XXX'XXXXX
10 -
11/26/40
MANUFACTURERS TO SCRUTINIZE OWN ADS
A Committee on Advertising, composed of leading advertis¬
ing and sales promotion managers, appointed by the Radio Manufactur¬
ers and headed by John S. Garceau of the Farnsworth Radio Corpora¬
tion, Fort Wayne, Ind. , will act to survey industry advertising and
establish desirable, ethical and technically correct advertising
standards and practices.
The broad objective is to have the industry itself develop
proper advertising practices, to avoid possible criticism of the
public, Better Business Bureaus and government agencies. The work
of the Committee on Advertising, which will hold an initial meeting
early in December, will be entirely on a voluntary and cooperative
basis, without conflict with any other agency or action of any
individual company.
Besides Mr. Garceau, the following are the members of the
new committee :
Clifford C. Dewees, Advertising and Sales Promotion
Manager, Stewart -Warner Corp. , Chicago; P. G. Gillig, Sales Promo¬
tion Manager, Emerson Radio & Phonograph Corp. , New York; P. F.
Hadlock, Manager, Receiver Sales Division, General Electric Co. ,
Bridgeport, Conn.; Victor A. Irvine, Sales Promotion Manager, Galvin
Manufacturing Corp., Chicago; Thomas F. Joyce, Advertising and Sales
Promotion Manager, RCA Manufacturing Co., Inc., Camden, N. J. ;
L. Martin Krautter, Advertising and Sales Promotion Manager, The
Crosley Corp., Cincinnati, Ohio; Lee McCanne, Assistant General
Manager, Stroraberg- Carlson Telephone Mfg. Co., Rochester, N.Y. ,
and Sayre M. Ramsdell, Advertising and Sales Promotion Manager,
Philco Corp. , Philadelphia, Pa.
xxxxxxxxx
PITTSBURGH TO HAVE RADIO WEEKLY
Darrell V. Martin, pioneer Pittsburgh radio editor,
announces that he will publish a new weekly devoted to radio pro¬
grams that will have over 3,000 paid subscribers before the first
copy goes to press December 21. Among those who have already sub¬
scribed are Niles Trammell, President of the National Broadcasting
Company; Frank Mullen, General Manager of NBC, Ted Weber of the
Columbia Broadcasting System; Lester Gottlieb and Jerry Danzig of
the Mutual network. Also Kay Kyser, Amos 1 n’ Andy, Hal Kemp and
numerous other radio stars. The price is $2.00 a year and the
address P. 0. Box 111, Pittsburgh, Pa.
XXXXXXXX
11 -
11/26/40
TRANSRADIO ACCUSED IN DIES REPORT
Correspondence which the Dies Committee said was exchanged
by Dr. Manfred Zapo, head of the German Transocean News Service and
the American Transradio Press, was included in the Dies "White
Paper” report.
"In the event that the South American reception was
faulty”, the report said, "Berlin immediately advised Zapp in New
York. Thereupon Dr. Japp took this matter up with the Transradio
Press Service which service appears to be not only the receiving
agency for Transocean, but also the transmitting agency.
"This fact is further substantiated from an examination
of the Transocean financial records in which it is disclosed that
for the period from Jan. 1, 1939, to Aug. 1, 1940, Transocean News
Service paid Transradio Press Service the sum of $544,387.91. "
Herbert Moore, President of Transradio News Service,
replied that the Dies Committee, "in its zeal to combat subversive
influences, has made public certain disclosures which have the
unfortunate effect of misrepresenting the entirely legitimate con¬
nections which have existed between American press services and
Gorman news organizations.
"It is well known that Transradio and other American news
services have scrupulously guarded against all kinds of totalitarian
propaganda although they have, by necessity maintained working
press agreements with German and other foreign news agencies. "
xxxxxxxxx
G. E. SHOWS ITS TELEVISION COLORS
Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson demonstrated his color televi¬
sion system to members of the National Television Systems Committee
and George Henry Payne of the federal Communications Commission in
Schenectady last week. It was a special broadcast from the General
Electric television transmitter to a standard receiver in his home.
xxxxxxxxxx
An Ohio letter- writer to the Federal Communications Com¬
mission objects to certain Berlin broadcasts. The programs in
question are not rebroadcast but are received from Berlin direct.
The Commission does not, of course, have jurisdiction over alien
stations.
XXXXXXXX
12 -
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 29, 1940
Josh Radio Birthday Party During Air Raid . 2
Radio And What It Did In Campaign Discussed . 4
Broadcasters See 400 Stations Doing ASCAP Job . 5
Power Increases Continue . 6
Defense Board Appointments Now Being Made . 7
FCC Proposes Restrictions To Govern Radio Networks . 8
Foresees Radio Eliminating AP Wire System . 9
Are Our S-W Programs Getting Through? . 9
Trade Notes . 10
Engineers To Confer On FM Transmitters . 11
Historical Booklet Marks Television’s First Birthday . 12
JOSH RADIO BIRTHDAY PARTY DURING AIR RAID
There was a real thrill for those attending the dinner
in Washington celebrating the 20th anniversary of American radio
when it was revealed that three American news commentators being
heard by the 500 diners direct from London last Tuesday night -
Ed Moore of Columbia, John Steele, of Mutual, and Fred Bates, of
NBC - were actually broadcasting while an exciting air raid was
going on over London. It was some time, however, before those
present at the dinner had any indication of this. Certainly from
the fecetious comment exchanged between Abe Schechter, chief of
NBC news broadcasts, who staged the banquet broadcast, and the
commentators abroad, quite the ooposite was indicated. It was a
two-way conversation and one of the first questions Mr. Schechter
asked London was regarding their censorship problems.
"How in the heck can we tell you that", one of the com¬
mentators shot back, ’’when the censor is sitting here beside us?"
Apparently he was a pretty good censor because after awhile the
Americans in London succeeded in putting him on the air.
"It is not true that we fight every night over what is
to be censored and what is not" the British censor told the radio
gathering in Washington. "Sometimes we only fight every two
nights, but the censor always wins. "
One of the commentators in London complained that he
had been matching coins with one of his colleagues but never could
seem to win. Whereupon he asked Mr. Schechter to match him. "I
have heads", the man in London said. "I have tails", Mr. Schechter
replied from Washington, and the audience roared.
Finally, almost at the conclusion of the broadcast, Mr.
Schechter asked, "Is there an air raid on in London now?” There
was a sudden silence at the other end of the line. Evidently the
commentators were consulting with the censor. Finally one of them
replied with a crisp "Yes". Whereupon Mr. Schechter said, "Are you
broadcasting from underground?" There was another pause and a com¬
mentator replied "Somewhat".
Neville Miller, President of the National Broadcasting
Association, started the ball rolling at the dinner by inviting
all of those who had been in radio for twenty years to step for¬
ward and cut the birthday cake. Among those who responded were:
Judge A. L. Ashby, Vice-President and General Counsel of
NBC; Ed. Cohan, Vice-President of CBS; Commissioner T. A. M. Craven.
Arthur Church, KMBC, Kansas City, Mo.; G. W. Johnstone, formerly
with the Democratic National Committee, and F. P. Guthrie of R. C. A.
Communications in Washington.
- 2 -
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Letters from President Roosevelt and Wendell L.
Willkie (Mr. Willkie's first and receiving tremendous applause)
were read. The President wrote in part:
"Today the need is greater than ever that broadcasting
should perform its function as a medium of public information.
Factual and accurate news made available to all of our people
is a basic essential of democracy. Radio has done its Job well
in this field. Elsewhere radio and the press are instruments of
the state, used by dictators without regard for truth or justice.
I reaffirm to you my belief that democracy will not tolerate any
attempts at domination or control by government at the free and
open avenues of public information. The best assurance that this
will continue to be so is the proper discharge of the public res¬
ponsibilities by those who operate these media. * * * *
"Your government has no wish to interfere or hinder the con¬
tinued development of the American system of broadcasting. Radio
was born and developed in the real American way and its future
must continue on that basis. "
Mr. Willkie wrote:
"Those closely associated with radio broadcasting in this
country can take pride in this achievement, as well as in the fact
that they have kept the ether waves clear for free expressions of
all shades of thought. As one who has just come through a nation¬
al political campaign as a major participant, I can bear testimony
to the fairness and high sense of responsibility of those in con¬
trol of our radio facilities. May it ever be so. A free radio,
along with a free press, constitutes the cornerstone of a system
of free men. "
John Charles Thomas sang and there was other entertain¬
ment including a special broadcast of the American Forum of the
Air with notables discussing the past and present of broadcasting.
Among those seated at the guest table were:
Hon. Jesse Jones, Secretary of Commerce, U. S. Depart¬
ment of Commerce; Senator Sherman Minton of Indiana, Senator H. H.
Schwartz of Wyoming; Senator Elbert D. Thomas of Utah; Senator
C. Wayland Brooks; Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U. S.
Army; Ma j . Gen. J. 0. Mauborgne, Chief Signal Officer, U. S. Army;
Breckenridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State; Norman S. Case,
FCC Commissioner; T.A.M. Craven, FCC Commissioner; James L. Fly,
Chairman, FCC; Paul A. Walker, FCC Commissioner; Harry B. Mit¬
chell, U. S. Civil Service Commissioner; Thomas Burke, Chief,
Division of International Communications, Department of State;
John Benson, President, American Association of Advertising
Agencies; Paul B. West, President, Association of National
Advertisers; Bond Gedaes, Executive Vice President, Radio Manu¬
facturers' Association; Harold Lafount, President, National
Independent Broadcasters; Edward Klauber, Executive Vice Presi¬
dent, CBS; Theodore C. Streibert, Vice President, Mutual Broad¬
casting System; and Frank Mullen, Executive Vice-President, NBC.
xxxxxxxx
- 3 -
11/29/40
RADIO AND WHAT IT DID IN CAMPAIGN DISCUSSED
Declaring that before allowing the details of the recent
political campaign to fade from memory, it should be praised,
Chairman James L. Fly of the Federal Communications Commission,
in a broadcast over NBC, said: "New that the campaigns have
closed, I want to suggest that we flash to this great industry
the signal ’Well done'."
Chairman Fly continued:
"As radio has gained this important ground other media
of information have hardly held their own. This contrast we have
all noted with disappointment. We all know that for self-govern¬
ment to thrive, our basic instruments for the dissemination of
information must be vigilently guarded and fostered. No special
financial or political interest should control their policies.
Their primary function must be service to the public. If in
purporting to bring facts to the people, truth is distorted for
selfish ends, that is not democracy - it is something else. We
should be grateful that radio has not chosen such a path for it¬
self.
"The right of the people to have radio used for the com¬
munication of information and exchange of ideas, fairly and
objectively presented, has been recognized by the broadcasting
industry not only in theory but in practice. I can tell you that
by far the greater part of the industry is becoming scrupulous in
its attempts to carry that idea forward. It is true that differ¬
ences of opinion may arise as to just how far that approach should
be taken. Should commentators be permitted to peddle their spon¬
sors' views under the guise of news commentary? Should news
reporters be permitted to inject their own or their sponsor' s
views into ostensible factual reporting? But those are at present
subsidiary matters. The important thing is that the basic prin¬
ciple of objectivity has been accepted and placed into practice.
Today the adoption of an editorial policy by a licensee of a
broadcast station is virtually unknown. * * *
"Whatever any one of us may have thought of the various
individuals competing for public office, whatever our agreement
or disagreement with what any one of them may have said or stood
for, none of us, I think, can say that his candidates were not
afforded ample and repeated opportunity to explain their views to
the electorate. And, most significant, the opportunities were
equal for all.
"Of course, radio has certain advantages in reaching the
people. It has warmth; it has intimacy, it can be present every¬
where at the same time. By radio the candidate’s personality is
projected to your fireside. You are able to judge for yourself
his sincerity and the depth of his feeling. In this last campaign
in which radio was used more intensively than ever, all of these
advantages of radio stood out clearly. They were abetted by the
policy of equality adopted by the broadcasters.
4
11/29/40
"In pleasant contrast to the acrimony and bitterness
which prevailed among newspaper commentators and editorial
writers, radio commentators on national networks and local sta¬
tions generally preferred dispassionate, analytical discussions.
It was to be expected that those individuals who spoke under the
auspices of a political party would deliver partisan discussions,
most of which were reasoned arguments on one side or the other of
particular campaign issues. Occasionally a party- sponsored com¬
mentator would indulge in name-calling and prejudice-stirring
tactics, inconsistent with the good taste displayed by other
partisan radio speakers. But the radio-listening audience is an
acute audience. It seeks arguments and facts and not name-call¬
ing. In one of the outstanding instances of bad taste, when a
speaker attempted to incite religious antagonisms, an aroused
public demanded and received an apology from the speaker. * * #
"Perhaps the outstanding, unique service which the radio
industry performed to climax its service to the electorate was its
complete and timely broadcast of election returns. Before some
voting units in the western States had been closed, the radio
had announced the partially complete election returns of some
eastern States. You heard instantly that the Cleveland Plain
Dealer had conceded Ohio. You kept your own score and discovered
trends for yourself. You were aided by competent vote analysts
who kept the radio-listening public informed of their views on
the trends, minute by minute. Before midnight - a few short
hours after most polls closed - station after station throughout
the country carried the news of the election outcome. "
XXXXXXXXXX
BROADCASTERS SEE 400 STATIONS DOING ASCK? JOB
With only about a month to go until January 1st, the
time when the National Association of Broadcasters are expected to
make good their threat to black out all music by the American
Society of Composers, the broadcasters have issued a "white paper",
the conclusions of which are:
"Broadcasting stations are being asked what is behind the
n v* ^ AQHAD ^ n f nin ^ vi -PviAm + a
UJ. W O U U X Wii VJ Cl ± Cr d VJXX V^/ d WHO- U -4. u
rumor that an organization called A3CAP intends to bar from the
air some of the popular music you have been listening to - unle
^ - -*■ - pay $9,000,000
radio agrees to
ss
a year for its use
ers are
"Whether or not this threat
entitled to the facts
materializes,
in the case. "
radio listen-
"Broadcasting stations have been playing A5CAP music
under a license which expires December 31, 1940. After that date
they cannot play ASCAP music without violating the copyright law.
To renew the license, the Composers demand that every radio sta¬
tion in the country pay them a substantial percentage of all its
income - whether that income is from music programs or news
broadcasts and other programs which use no music at all. These
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11/29/40
demands exceed $9,000,000 for one year. Unless these demands are
met, ASCAP ' s music is to be 'pulled off the air'.
"Whether ASCAP will risk public attention by carrying
out its threat, no one knows. It may bar all of its music from
the air. It may, in addition, try by publicity to make the vast
radio audience aware that it is not hearing ASCAP music. * * *
"Broadcasting wants to give its radio listeners all
of the best of all kinds of music - including music represented
by ASCAP. And broadcasting believes that song-writers should be
paid when their music is used on the air. That is what copyright
laws are for. * * *
"Meanwhile, broadcasting is prepared this time for such
an emergency. All of the music of the people who are not members
of the ASCAP club, all of the music of other licensing agencies,
dozens of whole catalogues of music have been made available to
radio's orchestra leaders and program directors.
"And in order to amplify and make this music more read¬
ily available to the public, broadcasting stations have, at their
own expense, organized Broadcast Music, Inc., which is gathering
and publishing a great new catalogue of music. A mutual under¬
taking by 400 radio stations, Broadcast Music, Inc. will do the
job ASCAP has consistently refused to do, namely, provide an open
door to radio audiences for all composers and song-writers who can
claim the right to a hearing on the air.
"Broadcast Music, Inc. filled so obvious a need that it
has become a great force almost overnight. Hundreds of composers
and lyric writers are flocking to it. Already available to its
subscribers are more than 140,000 musical numbers. And alreedy
several song-writers - ineligible for ASCAP membership and un¬
likely to have a chance at any income from ASCAP for years even
if admitted to its membership - have started on the road to for¬
tune as well as fame.* * *
ASCAP may take its tunes off the air. You will still
hear the great music which you love and which belongs to America's
cultural tradition. And you will hear fine new exciting music.
Perhaps we are entering a new period in radio's history when radio
audiences will have the thrill of watching a whole new group of
young American composers make their bid for fame and fortune
through popularity on the air. "
XXXXXXXXXX
POWER INCREASES CONTINUE
Power increases were granted during the past week to
WMT, Iowa Broadcasting Co. , Cedar Rapids for 1 to 5 kilowatts;
WSJS, Piedmont Publishing Co., Winston-Salem, N.C., from 250
watts to 1 KW; KROD, Dorrance D. Roderick, El Paso, Texas, from
250 watts to 500 watts night, 1 KW LS; WREC, WREC Broadcasting
Service, Memphis, Tenn. , from 1 to 5 KW night power.
Applications were received by WATR, Waterbury, Conn. ,
to increase power from 250 watts to 1 KW and KOL, Seattle, from
1 to 5 KW.
XXXXXXXXX
- 6 -
11/29/40
DEFENSE BOARD APPOINTMENTS NOW BEING MADE
Up to now about the only appointments that have been
made to the new Defense Communications Board are Government re¬
presentatives. Invitations in the form of letters are being sent
to various companies and groups in the communications industry
asking them to name persons for such service.
It was said at the Federal Communications Commission
that the present listing was not final. If any responsible
company is overlooked, the door is still open on appropriate
representation. Additional Defense Board appointments which
have been announced are:
Amateur Radio Committee- E. M. Webster, Federal Communica¬
tion s~^ommI¥sTon; Lt. Cmdr. John L. Reinartz, Navy Department;
Maj. Frank C. Meade, War Department.
Aviation Radio Committee - E. L. Fnite, Federal Communica¬
tions Commission; Comdr. A. I. Price, Navy Department; Lt. Cmdr.
F. A. Leamy, Treasury Department, Coast Guard; Ma j . Wallace G.
Smith, War Department.
Cable Committee - J. A. Kennedy, FCC; Lt. Cmdr. R. B. Ellis,
Navy Department; Ma j . John C. Grable , War Department.
Domestic Broadcasting Committee - Lowell Mellett, Office of
Government Reports; Maj. Frank C. Meade, War Department.
Interdeoartment Radio Advisory Committee - E. W. Love ridge,
Dept, of Agriculture; Dr. J. H. Dellinger, Dept, of Commerce;
E. K. Jett, FCC; C. D. Monteith, Dept, of Interior; T. D. Quinn,
Dept, of Justice; D. 3. Brierly, U. S. Maritime Commission;
Adm. S. C. Hooper, Navy Dept.; Roy M. Martin, P.0. Dept.; Thomas
Burke, Department of State; Comdr. J. F. Farley, Treasury Dept. ;
Maj. Gen. J. 0. Mauborgne, War Dept.
International Broadcasting Committee - Nelson Rockefeller,
Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Relations Between the
American Republics; Gerald C. Gross, FCC; Rear Adm. Stanford C.
Hooper, Navy Dept. ; Lowell Mellett, Office of Government Reports.
Radiocommunications Committee - E. M. Webster, FCC. ; Comdr.
R. E. Melling, Navy Dept.
State and Municipal Facilities Committee - E. L. White, FCC;
Comdr. John R. Redman, Navy Dept. ; Lieut. Comdr. R. J. Mauerman,
Treasury Dept.; Lieut. Col. R. B. Moran, War Dept.
Telegraph Committee - Mr. W. J. Norfleet, FCC; Lieut. Comdr.
R. B. Ellis, Navy Dept. ; Lieut. Col. Paul C. Gripper, War Dept.
Telephone Committee - A. W. Cruse, FCC; Comdr. R. E. Melling,
Navy Dept. ; Lieut. Comdr. L. M. Harding, Treasury Dept. ; Maj.
John C. Grable, War Dept.
United States Government Facilities Committee - FCC - T. L.
Bartlett; Comdr. John R. Redman, Navy Dept.; Lieut. Comdr. R. J.
Mauerman, Treasury Dept.; Maj. W. T. Guest, War Dept.
xxxxxxxx
7
11/29/40
FCC PROPOSES RESTRICTIONS TO GOVERN RADIO NETWORKS
Tentative regulation of broadcasting networks which
would curb considerably their control of affiliated stations was
disclosed Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission as it
prepared for a hearing Monday and Tuesday on the monopoly report.
The Commission labeled the regulations as '’suggestions" and listed
several with alternatives. It explained that they have not been
approved but are intended to focus the attention of counsel for
the several networks on issues raised in the report.
The Committee report has not yet been approved by the
Commission and has met with critical opposition from the networks,
chiefly the Columbia Broadcasting System which he s charged that
the report contained serious errors in fact and more serious in¬
sinuations.
Among the regulations "suggested" by the FCC are the
following:
Discontinuance of the network's contractural ban against an
affiliate carrying other chain programs.
Restrictions on the ownership of stations by persons "engaged
in network broadcasting".
Prohibition against network-affiliate tieups which will
result in the duplication of a chain program in any city.
Limitations on the networks’ options on broadcasting time of
affiliates and on the duration of contracts.
Prohibitions against network control of advertising rates
charged by affiliated stations.
Maintenance of the right of affiliated stations to reject
"for any reasonable cause any program offered by the network".
Organizations which will be represented at the hearing
and the order in which they will present arguments include the
National Broadcasting Co. , Columbia Broadcasting System, Independ¬
ent Radio Network Affiliates, Inc. , Don Lee Broadcasting System,
Mutual Broadcasting System, World Broadcasting System, Inc.,
Association of Radio Transcription Producers of Hollywood, Inc.,
American Federation of Musicians, Independent Artists' Representa¬
tives and Associated Music Publishers, Inc.
The FCC Committee, in its monopoly report, found that
the interests of affiliated radio stations "have been subordinated
to the interests of the network owned and controlled station".
It called attention to the concentration and control of the
country’s broadcasting stations and pointed out that NBC and CBS
in 1938 owned or controlled 23 stations, of which 15 were 50 KW
clear channel outlets. All but two of the 34 high-power clear
channel stations and all of the high-power regional stations were
found to be on the two major networks.
8
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11/29/40
Neville Miller, President of the National Association
of Broadcasters, commented last night that "although these sug¬
gestions . . . show the trend of thinking of some of the Commis¬
sioners, nevertheless we are confident there exists in the Com¬
mission sufficient good judgment and restraint as to the exercise
of powers ..."
"It would be most unfortunate", Mr. Miller said, "if the
high standard of radio entertainment and information now enjoyed
by the American public was jeopardized by restrictions sought to
be imposed without warrant of law or need. "
X X X X X X X
FORESEES RADIO ELIMINATING AP WIRE SYSTEM
Addressing the Associated Press Managing Editors1
Association at Louisville, W. J. McCambridge predicted that
eventually the entire wire system of the AP would be eliminated
by the use of radio, at an annual saving of $2,000,000, the
Editor & Publisher reports.
Experiments in the AP laboratory have recently been
concerned with frequency modulation radio, Mr. McCambridge told
the editors. He believes it will be possible to transmit not
only AP Wirephoto, but the entire news report, in facsimile, at
120 words a minute, doubling the present word capacity of tele¬
graphic printers, additional features and a complete market and
sports report on less than 10,000 of the 200,000 cycle frequency
modulation assignment, without interfering with present broadcast
ing.
He added that AP members already operating radio trans¬
mitters are so distributed that only a few additional relay sta¬
tions would be needed to cover the country with a network of
frequency modulation stations to carry the whole AP report to
member papers.
XXXXXXXX
ARE OUR S-W PROGRAMS GETTING THROUGH?
Commenting upon criticism that the short-wave programs
broadcast to South America were not appropriate and that the South
Americans don't understand or appreciate them, an official in
Washington remarked:
"There is something even more important than that. First
of all the people down there have to be able to hear them. It
doesn't make any difference what kind of programs we are sending
if they are not getting through as well as the German and the
English. "
XXXXXXXX
- 9 -
11/29/40
TRADE NOTES :::
i t i
Station WWVA, Wheeling, West Va. , which under the Havana
Treaty will operate as a Class 1-B station with 50,000 watts
power, will become a basic NBC Blue Network affiliate either on
May 21, 1941, or at the time of the change from Daylight Saving
to Standard Time in the Fall of 1941.
WMCA will broadcast the annual McCosker-Hershf ield
Cardiac Foundation dinner in New York Saturday, December 7th
with Lt. Gov. Charles Poletti, James J. Walker, George Jessel,
Harry Hershfield and District Attorney William O' Dwyer as speakers.
Aeronautical station KANG of the Alaska Air Transport
at Juneau has been granted authority to communicate with CY31 at
Tulsequak in British Columbia.
Applications for the following attorneys to practice
before the Federal Communications Commission were approved by
the Commission: John A. Kratz, Jr. , Robert T. Murphy, Charles
Sylvanus Rhyne, John Ferdinand Schmidt, all of Washington, and
Hayes McKinney of Chicago.
Station WLWO, international short-wave outlet operated
by the Crosley Corporation, Cincinnati, is now conducting tests
with a power input of 100,000 watts at the final stage of ampli¬
fication, with an antenna output of approximately 75,000 watts -
which according to a WLWO press statement is the most powerful in
the United States.
Philco Corporation announced a dividend of 25 cents a
share on the common stock payable December 21 to holders of record
December 9. This brought dividends to 75 cents a share since the
$3 par value stock was authorized last May.
The Chattahoochee Broadcasting Company has applied to
the Federal Communications Commission for a new station at Colum-
bu s , Ga .
As a part of the program for the Washington, C. YMCA
class in radio theory, a demonstration was given of frequency
modulation.
The Worcester Broadcasting Corporation will establish
a new station in San Diego, Calif. , to operate on the frequency
1420 kc. with power of 250 watts.
The Radio Club of the Rose Polytechnic Institute at
Terre Haute, Ind. has begun a series of radio code lessons for
amateur operators.
XXXXXXXXX
- 10 -
11/29/40
ENGINEERS TO CONFER ON FM TRANSMITTERS
An informal engineering conference will be held at the
offices of the Federal Communications Commission on Monday,
December 9, at 10:30 A. M. to discuss transmitting equipment for
high frequency broadcast stations. Two subjects will be discuss¬
ed, namely: 1. Maximum power rating and operating power range
of standard high frequency (FM) transmitters. 2. Performance
characteristics of audio amplifying equipment when obtained
separately and as a complete unit.
The Commission has been informed that it would facili¬
tate the manufacture of standard high frequency (FM) broadcast
transmitting equipment if maximum power ratings would be stand¬
ardized. Also, the operating power range of the transmitters of
different maximum power ratings should be standardized for the
equipment made by different manufacturers. As the Commission
regulates only the external performance characteristics, it
ordinarily would not be particularly concerned with power rating
except in so far as it must be considered in obtaining the nec¬
essary performance. It has been agreed, however, to discuss
these matters with the several manufacturers so as to standardize
the power ratings in order to expedite manufacture at this time
when most of the engineering facilities of the manufacturers are
devoted to defense engineering.
The following power ratings are offered as a basis of
discussion;
Maximum Power Rating
250 watts
1250 11
5000 11
25,000 "
100,000 "
Operating Power Range
50 to 250 watts
250 " 1250 11
1250 " 5000 "
5000 " 25,000 "
250 00 " 100,000 "
High frequency broadcast stations are not rated on the
basis of power output. They are rated on the basis of service
area. The service area is established from economic data and cer¬
tain technical considerations. Since all stations serving the
same city must have substantially the same service area and as the
antenna height and antenna gain vary in all cases, the operating
power will, in most cases, be odd values (such as 1190 watts,
19.2 kw, etc. ). While stations are not to be rated on the basis
of operating power, consideration should also be given the deter¬
mination of the operating power for the authorized coverage.
Even though standard maximum ratings as given above
are adopted, it may be desirable to make provision for immediate
steps by reducing the number of tubes or using tubes of different
power ratings in the last radio stage when the operating power is
considerably below the maximum power rating. This is suggested
for economy only.
11
It has come to the attention of the Commission that the
performance characteristics of the speech input equipment is
dependent upon the input and output circuits employed. Unless
each unit is designed for the impedance characteristics of the
load, the performance (frequency and amplitude) may be different
from the published (feta. The claims for overall performance of
high frequency broadcast equipment are, in many cases, based upon
the performance of individual units which may not, in some esses
when not matched, give performance meeting the requirements, un¬
less all units are equalized as a whole. It Is desired to dis¬
cuss these problems with the view of standardizing a method of
specifying characteristics and load conditions. High frequency
broadcast stations are required to submit oroof of audio perform¬
ance during tests as a complete station before a license will be
issued by the Commission.
XXXXXXXXX
HISTORICAL BOOKLET MARKS TELEVISION'S 1ST BIRTHDAY
Upon completion of the initial anniversary, Alfred H.
Morton, Vice-President in Charge of Television of the National
Broadcasting Company, has just issued a booklet "Television’s
First Year" so elaborate in detail and so profusely illustrated
that it may be preserved for future library reference.
"Although Television has but a single candle on its
birthday cake, it is a lusty infant and its first year’s report
shows marked progress", Mr. Morton writes in presenting the book¬
let. "Instea*d of presenting a series of engineering graphs, oie~
charts and similar dry-as-dust memorabilia, we thought candid
camera photographs of programs, personalities and special features
better caught and reflected the spirit of sight, sound and motion
inherent in Television.
"Naturally, it was impossible to include pictures of all
programs Telecast over W2XBS, the RCA-NBC station atop the Empire
State Tower, and consequently we have listed many of them together
with many of the artists, actors, singers, dancers and outstanding
personalities who appeared on Television programs during 1939-40.
There is also a list of business and industrial firms which have
cooperated in the development of experimental programs in accord¬
ance with existing regulations of the Federal Communications Com¬
mission. ”
XXXXXXXXX
The refusal of the Federal Communications Commission
for the transfer of the broadcasting license of Station KSFO, San
Francisco, from the Associated Broadcasters, Inc., to the Columbia
Broadcasting System of California was upheld by the U.S. Supreme
Court last Tuesday when it decided that the District of Columbia
Court of Appeals lacked jurisdiction in the matter. In a unani¬
mous opinion dealing purely with court procedure, Justice Frank¬
furter held that when Congress provided for court review of FCC
orders "refusing an application for a station license", this did
not include Commission action on transfers.
X X X X X X X X
12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
, .XJ
INDEX TO ISSUE OF DECEMBER 3, 1940
Monopoly Charges Stir Up Rumpus - Maybe Justice Dept . 2
Seeks Industry View On Network Contract Control . 4
Our Short-Wave Reception Poor In Cuba . 6
FCC Monopoly Committee Report Hit . 7
Defense Board Advisory Committee Invitations Extended . 9
Uruguay Demand Exceeds Supply . 10
Trade Notes . 11
Roy C. Hopgood, I. T. & T. Patent Attorney, Dies . 12
Zenith Annual Profit Up To Million . 12
No. 1286
December 3, 1940
MONOPOLY CHARGES STIR UP RUMPUS - MAYBE JUSTICE DEPT.
As the stormy oral argument on the 1800 page Federal
Communications Commission Committee’s report on alleged monopolistic
practices in chain broadcasting got under way this week in the
National Capital, there were reverberations in other quarters.
Although the FCC monopoly report has not yet been passed upon by
the full Commission, and will not be until the conclusion of the
oral argument, it was said that Thurman Arnold, Assistant Attornay
General in charge of the Anti-Trust Division was scrutinizing
Communications Commission findings and might start an investiga¬
tion of his own. The FCC sent the report to the Justice Department
without recommendation, merely stating that it could be studied to
determine if violations of anti- trust laws were involved.
This followed close upon the heels of the rumor so often
repeated that the American Society of Composers might be inquired
into by the Justice Department to see if the organization constitu¬
ted an illegal copyright pool.
The Justice Department is trying to settle by a consent
decree an anti-trust suit filed six years ago against the American
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. A Justice spokesman
said the Department hoped that an agreement can be reached to
settle the civil suit, but, if a deadlock is reached, the Govern¬
ment is ready not only to proceed with the suit but to take the
case before a grand jury. Conferences are being held here three
times a week between Justice attorneys and representatives of ASCAP.
The case has lain dormant in the United States Court for
the Southern District of New York for six years. It is believed
the pending resistance of radio stations and the chains to a large
increase in fees asked by ASCAP in a new contract has served to
revive the anti-trust action.
As a real starter of the big battle a month hence between
the Broadcasters and ASCAP, came the announcement that the Columbia
Broadcasting System, beginning December 1 barred from its sustain¬
ing programs all music controlled by ASCAP.
The broadcasters are accused of a little "Fifth Column"
work to have the Composers convicted of a monopoly of music
whereas the Composers are accused of similar "Fifth Column" activi¬
ties in endeavoring to have the Broadcasters brought to bar on the
chain broadcasting charge. Each side in this controversy has
complained to the Justice Department, it is said, that the other
side has a monopoly.
2
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Quite another radio investigation - one to be undertaken
by the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee, of which Senator
Burton K. Wheeler, of Montana, prize Senate investigator is Chair¬
man, has been proposed by Senator Gurney, Reoublican, of South
Dakota, who bitterly scored the FCC Committee report.
Rising to the defense of the chain broadcasters, Senator
Gurney declared that the report had been "severely criticized
and generally discredited because of its inaccuracy and demon¬
strable bias" when the Senate refused to confirm the reappointment
of Col. Thad Brown, one of the FCC members who had signed the
report.
"The Committee proposals would strangle, if not impose
a death sentence upon, the established networks which render such
outstanding broadcasting service to the people of the country and
which, in fact, are the backbone of all broadcasting service",
Senator Gurney charged.
. "What is our country coming to when a Commission proposes
regulations in excess of its authority when it has made no finding
of abuses?
"To the contrary, the public appreciation of the services
rendered by the networks is probably greater and more widely spread
than the public appreciation for any other industry.
"If the Commission adopts these rules, and thus strangles
the service of broadcasting to the American people, it surely
will have gone ’10c0’. Apparently some of its members have eaten
the loco weed and have construed its strange effects as giving the
Commission power far in excess of that actually bestowed upon it
by Congress. "
It was said at the Communications Commission that Senator
Gurney evidently misunderstood the situation or had not read care¬
fully the text of the procedure for oral argument in the network
inquiry report which the Commission had issued in mimeographed form
last week.
"The Senator talked about the proposed ^CC rules for the
regulation of the networks", an FCC spokesman said. "Those were
not ’proposed rules’ but simple agenda to center argument on. The
Committee report itself, 1800 pages in length, was so voluminous
and so mixed up that the issues set forth by the Commission were
merely something to shoot at. "
XXXXXXXX
SORRY!
It was inadvertently stated in our last issue that FCC
Chairman Fly ordered FCC Secretary Slowie to send that moot wire to
to the independent stations, about which Mark Ethridge and many
others have complained. We have since learned the telegram was
drafted and dispatched by the FCC "Monopoly" Committee (Commis¬
sioners Walker and Thompson) without the knowledge of the other
members of the Commission.
XXXXXXXXX -3-
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12/3/40
SEEKS INDUSTRY VIEW ON NETWORK CONTRACT CONTROL
At the opening of the Federal Communications Commission’s
argument on the Committee’s network inquiry (so-called ’’Monopoly”
report), Telford Taylor, FCC General Counsel, stated that the Com¬
mission desired that the discussion be pointed toward two particu¬
lar matters :
(1) Should the Commission promulgate regulations
under Section 303 of the Communications Act dealing with
the provisions of contracts between networks and their
affiliated stations, and
(2) If so, what should those regulations provide
{This pointing of the discussion reflects the opinion of
the chain broadcasting Committee, Mr. Taylor explained, as stated
in the conclusion of its report, that the heart of the chain
broadcasting problem is the network-outlet contract, and the recom¬
mendation in the Committee's letter of transmittal that regulations
with respect to these contracts should be promulgated.
The Commission has set forth, for the consideration of
counsel appearing at this argument, a series of draft regulations.
Regulations Nos. 1-A and 1-B deal with contract provi¬
sions for exclusive affiliation between networks and affiliates.
No. 1-A is a general prohibition of such provisions. In support of
such a prohibition, it is urged by one of the national networks
that exclusive contracts prevent new national networks from securing
adequate coverage, and thereby restrain competition among networks.
The limited radio facilities in a number of large cities is called
to the Commission's attention in order to support this argument.
On the other hand, the two other national networks contend that
the exclusive affiliation provision in their contracts is indis¬
pensable to sound network operation. They urge that a network
should be considered as a cooperative enterprise, point to their
expenditures for sustaining programs which build up the goodwill
and advertising value of their affiliates, and conclude that the
prohibition of exclusive provisions would undermine stable network
operations.
.
It should be noted that drafts 1-A and 1-B are identical
except for the addition of the proviso in 1-B. That proviso would
make the regulation inaoplicable in cities where five or more full
time stations are rendering adequate primary service, on the theory
that in such cities the restrictive effect of exclusive contracts
is of far less significance.
Draft No. 2 proposes a limitation on the amount of time
which a licensee may option to a network organization. In support
of such a regulation, one of the national networks urges that the
optioning to the established networks of the best hours of sta¬
tions in markets where the available facilities are limited makes
it extremely difficult for new networks to sell time to national
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12/3/40
advertisers. It is also pointed out that the other two networks
customarily option much more time than they actually use for com¬
mercial network programs.
The other two national networks oppose such a regulation
on the ground that options are essential in order to make firm
commitments with advertisers and thereby compete with other adver¬
tising media, such as newspapers and magazines.
The proposed regulation permits the optioning of more
time in cities which have three or more stations than in cities
which have only two stations or only one station. It also under¬
takes to limit the margin between the number of hours which may be
optioned and the number of hours which are customarily utilized for
commercial network programs.
Drafts Nos. 3-A, 3-B, and 3-C are alternative proposals
dealing with the permissible duration of contracts between networks
and their affiliates. Draft 3-A limits such contracts to the dura¬
tion of the station license. Draft 3-C limits the duration to two
years. Draft 3-B imposes no limitation on the length of the con¬
tract, but requires that any provisions with respect to renewal or
cancellation shall be available both to the network and the affili¬
ates - - in other words, it requires reciprocity in this respect.
The argument in favor of such regulations is that network-
outlet contracts which run for a long period tend to lock up the
better radio facilities in the various markets, and to restrain and
hamper the efforts of new or more recently formed networks to com¬
pete with the old ones. The two largest national networks oppose
such regulation on the ground that their willingness to spend money
on equipment, and in building and developing fine programs and good¬
will for their affiliates is dependent on the commercial stability
afforded by long-term contracts.
Draft No. 4 relates to a provision found in the contracts
of the National Broadcasting Company with its affiliates.
The brief for the National Broadcasting Company argues
that the purpose of these clauses is merely to permit National to
deal with its advertising clients upon terms not less favorable
than those established by the station.
Draft No. 5 is directed to the control of two or more net¬
work organizations by a single company. As of the present time,
this proposal, if adopted, would affect chiefly the National Broad¬
casting Company, which operates both the Red and the Blue networks.
In support of such a regulation, one of the national networks con¬
tends that National's control of two different networks accentu¬
ates the restraint on competition which it finds to result from
exclusive affiliation provisions, excessive option time, and lengthy
contracts. It points out that the result of National's control of
two networks is in many cases to tie up two outlets in principal
markets to the National Broadcasting Company, and thereby reduce
the outlets available to competing networks.
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12/3/40
Opposing such a regulation, the National Broadcasting
Company argues that its ownership of two networks has stimulated
the development of broadcasting by making a wider variety of net¬
work programs available, and states that it has never changed a
station from its Red to its Blue network over the opposition of
the station.
Drafts 6-A, 6-B, and 6-C which are presented in the
alternative, do not relate directly to network contracts, but
rather to the ownership of station licensees by network organiza¬
tions. Proposal 6-A would entirely prohibit such ownership.
The Committee Report, approaching the matter from another
angle, urges that the ownership of powerful stations in the most
important markets increases the dominant position of the networks
in the radio picture, and also raises a problem of conflict of
interest, in that the networks may concentrate their efforts on
promoting the sale of time over their own stations rather than
over the network as a whole.
The two largest networks deny that there is any such con¬
flict of interest, and argue that the control of station operations
at key points is indispensable to their stability.
The last draft, numbered 7, concerns the right of station
licensees to reject programs offered by the networks.
Two of the principal briefs, and in particular that of
the National Broadcasting Company, stress the existence of a sup¬
posed conflict between the Report of the Chain Broadcasting Com¬
mittee, and the Report of another committee of the Commission which
conducted the proceedings and, early in 1939, submitted a report
which resulted in regulations governing standard broadcasting.
There is no such conflict, for at least one good reason — the two
committees were considering different subjects.
XXXXXXXX
OUR SHORT-WAVE RECEPTION POOR IN CUBA
It is reported by Asst. Commercial Attache Charles S.
Ducote, stationed at Havana, to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic
Commerce that short-wave reception from the United States and Europe
is only partially satisfactory. Fading is usually bad, and recep¬
tion seldom good for more than 2 hours of the time any particular
frequency is used for Cuban reception. European stations are in
general received more effectively than American. In the 49-meter
band reception is poor at all times, and is marked by a high noise
level. The 32-meter band is fairly satisfactory, especially after
7 or 8 P.M. , the 25-meter band after 6 P . M. , and the 19-meter ban-d
through the day up to 5 or 6 P.M. Reception on the medium band is
good, from Cuban stations and from other North American stations
on channels not used by Cuban stations. Many Cuban stations broad¬
cast on broad bands, however, and few channels therefore are
entirely clear for distant receotion.
XXXXXXXXX
- 6 -
12/3/40
FCC MONOPOLY COMMITTEE REPORT HIT
A large number of brick-bats were thrown by counsel for
the National Broadcasting, the Columbia Broadcasting System and
the Independent Radio Network Affiliates at the Federal Communica¬
tions Committee report seeking to formulate regulations to curb the
networks. An idea of the tone of the objections to the report may
be gained by the opening remarks of Phillip J. Hennessey, NBC
counsel, first of the network spokesmen to be heard, when the hear¬
ing began yesterday (Monday) morning.
"It is our conclusion that this report is inaccurate,
distorted", Mr. Hennessey declared, "and contains conclusions un¬
warranted - " And as the speaker started to say a few other
things, no doubt equally complimentary, he was interruoted by
Chairman James L. Fly who suggested that he omit generalities. A
little later, nevertheless, Mr. Hennessey referred to a financial
sort ion of the report which contained an allegation that the NBC
had lost a large amount of money on account of bad debts as a
"statistical monstrosity"'. Sitting beside Mr. Hennessey and
directing the presentation was Judge A. L. Ashby, Vice-President
and General Counsel for NBC.
Mr. Hennessey said Congress did not confer on the FCC
authority to enforce the anti-trust acts against broadcasters.
"Should the Commission consider the monopolistic element
in granting licenses?"' Chairman Fly asked.
"It should not", replied Mr. Hennessey.
The speaker asserted that the American system of broad¬
casting is rendering the world's finest service in broadcasting
but that the proposal would greatly restrain it,
"If you adopt these rules and regulations, or anything
like them", he said, "you will destroy the American system of
broadcasting and dislocate the whole equilibrium of radio in rela¬
tion to other advertising media. "
Criticizing the Mutual Broadcasting System, which has
sided with the FCC in some of its findings, Mr. Hennessey said:
"The Mutual brief argues not the virtue of the FCC report
but rather of the short-comings of NBC and Columbia. It is strange¬
ly silent though on who owns Mutual. It is assumed that behind
WGN is the powerful Chicago Tribune and WCR, R. H. Macy & Company,
and so on. "
"Do you think the name of every stockholder should be
shown?" Commissioner Frederick I Thompson inquired.
"I do", was the reply.
7
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Rejection of the report was recommended by John J. Burns,
counsel for CBS, who supported the position of Mr. Hennessey. Mr.
Burns argued at length constitutional questions involved by his
contention that the suggested regulations not only were destructive
in character but beyond the power and authority of the Commission
to promulgate. He said the Commission can regulate only the physi¬
cal side of broadcasting.
Mr. Burns added that he saw in one of the suggested recom-
fmendations an effort on the part of the Commission "to smuggle in
the regulation of advertising rates”.
Paul Segal, as attorney for the Independent Radio Network
Affiliates, said that his group is opposed to all of the suggested
regulations on the ground that they are ’’undesirable rather than
illegal ” .
He argued that the affiliates did not desire to see net¬
works ham-strung and he predicted that if the regulations were
adopted that they would discourage the formation of new chains
rather than provide greater competition.
"We oppose these regulations in their entirety”, Mr.
Segal said. ’’This is because the regulations deal with the busi¬
ness of broadcasting as distinguished from allocation and licens¬
ing. ”
Each witness was asked by Chairman Ely to suggest methods
of enlarging the present opportunities of the Mutual Broadcasting
System, which has approved substantially all the basic recommenda¬
tions of the Committee, without sacrifice or interruption of other
service s.
Mr. Hennessey suggested, as two possibilities, the organ¬
ization of networks through the licensing of additional stations
within the present allocation setup, and the use of new facilities.
Also, though he did not recommend it, he mentioned the breakdown
of clear channels, which he said would do more harm than good.
Mr. Burns said he had no suggestions to make, and Mr.
Segal said that Mutual already had demonstrated its ability to hold
its own effectively in competition with older networks, and "if
left alone will continue to expand and prosper in ever increasing
de gre e . ”
”We believe it to be to the basic interest of the Mutual
affiliates, just as it is to the affiliates of the older networks,
to resist the intrusion of detailed Federal regulation of the net¬
work-affiliate relationship”, Mr. Segal declared.
Joseph Raug, Jr., Assistant Counsel of the FCC had stated
earlier in the hearing that there were no legal obstacles to pre¬
vent the issuing by the Commission of regulations to place re¬
straints on chain organizations. Network counsel agreed that ex¬
clusive contracts, which would be forbidden under the proposed
regulations were a fundamental of any competitive business, in no
way harmful as between network and affiliate but of benefit to
both and to the listening public.
Yet to be heard at this writing were the Mutual Broad¬
casting System, Don Lee, and others.
XXXXXXXX
- 8 -
12/3/40
DEFENSE 30ARD ADVISORY COMMITTEE INVITATIONS EXTENDED
Executives of eight leading communication companies have
been invited by the Defense Communications Board to constitute the
latter' s Industry Advisory Committee in connection with coordinat¬
ing and preparing plans for the role of communications in the pre¬
paredness program. The offials to whom such invitations have been
sent are:
Walter S. Gifford, President of the American Telephone
& Telegraph Co.
Jack Kaufman, Executive Vice-President of Globe Wireless, Ltd.
Sosthenes Behn, President of the International Telephone
& Telegraph Corp.
Joseph Pierson, President of Press Wireless, Inc.
David Sarnoff, President of the Radio Corporation of America
W. E. Beakes, President of the Tropical Radio Telegraph Co.
R. B. White, President of the Western Union Telegraph Co.
E. F. Chinlund, President, Postal Telegraph Co.
The duties of the Industry Advisory Committee include the
submission of expert advice to the Board on all problems of general
concern to the communications companies incident to the proper
carrying out of the Board's national defense mission. With the
requirements of national defense as a primary consideration, the
Industry Advisory Committee will submit recommendations to the
Board on such problems as are referred to it by the Board. The
Industry Advisory Committee will report directly to the Board but
will have liason for the purpose of advice and consultation with a
Coordinating Committee and a Labor Advisory Committee.
In addition to their own particular Advisory Committees -
Domestic Broadcasting and International Broadcasting - the broad¬
casters may also be represented on the Industry Advisory Committee
under the following supplemental provision:
"Whenever a problem involving domestic or inter¬
national broadcasting shall arise, the Chairman of the
Industry Advisory Committee shall notify the Chairman
of the Domestic Broadcasting Committee or International
Broadcasting Committee, as the case may be, and such
Domestic or International Broadcasting Committee shall
designate a delegate to act as a member of the Industry
Advisory Committee on that problem. "
At the same time the Board sped organization of its Labor
Advisory Committee by inviting the following organizations to each
recommend a member of this Committee to represent their respective
affiliated communications groups:
American Federation of Labor
Congress of Industrial Organizations
National Federation of Telephone Workers.
9
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Each of these committee members has the orivilege of
selecting such advisors as he may deem necessary. The Labor
Advisory Committee will advise the Board on communications labor
matters incident to the national defense, in liason with the
Industry Advisory and Coordinating Committees.
Also, the Board invited the National Association of
Broadcasters to nominate a representative to the International
Broadcasting Committee, and Western Radio Telegraph Company,
Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to appoint a representative to the Radio¬
communications Committee.
The above invitations are in addition to those announced
November 25. Besides the Committees mentioned, there are other
Committees representative of Amateur Radio, Aviation Radio, Inter¬
department Radio, Telegraph, Telephone, State and Municipal Facil¬
ities, and Government Facilities. All appointments to these
advisory committees are pursuant to nomination or other recommenda¬
tion by industries and groups concerned, on invitation from the
Board. The initial task of the committees is to organize and
select respective chairmen and secretaries.
James L. Fly, Chairman of the Board, explains that com¬
mittee listing is not to be interpreted as exclusive, and that any
responsible company or group which may consider itself overlooked
can obtain representation upon adequate showing that it is con¬
cerned with the Board's planning for emergency coordination of
radio, wire and cable facilities.
XXXXXXXX
URUGUAY DEMAND EXCEEDS SUPPLY
In view of the severe foreign exchange restrictions now
in force which serve to handicap imports of sets and parts, the
demand for radio sets and equipment in Uruguay is greater than the
supply, Vice Consul Hector C. Adams, Jr. , of Montevideo reports
through the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. No census of
radio receiving sets in use is available, but the number is esti¬
mated at 145,000 to 155,000. It is further estimated that the
average normal annual sale of receiving sets numbers 20,000. The
growing restrictions of imports caused by exchange control were
expected to limit the sales in 1939, but it is now estimated that
they reached 22,000 and that 1940 sales about equal the 1939.
Imports of American radio receiving sets fell severely
in 1939, dropping to 14 percent from 61 percent in 1938. Imports
from the Netherlands practically doubled their percentage. The
percentage of American parts, except tubes, increased to 54 in
1939 against 40 in 1938, although the value fell a third. The
position of the United States as a supplier of radio tubes remain¬
ed the same in 1939 as in 1938, both with regard to value and per¬
centage of the total. The reputation in Uruguay of American sets
and tubes is excellent and they are considered far superior to
European sets and tubes, both as regards value and performance and
10 -
••
12/3/40
durability. The only reason American radio equipment does not
dominate the Uruguayan market entirely is the restrictions on ex¬
change .
Whereas the large percentage of sets came from Europe
before the war, and even during the first half of 1940, the United
State is now the country of origin of nearly all. Imports of sets
are more than holding up during 1940, being at the rate of 23.8
percent above 1939. The United States share of the total rose
from 14.0 percent in 1939 to 34.1 in the first 8 months of 1940 and
will be higher for the entire year. The Netherlands share rose
from 47.7 to 59.9 percent.
XXXXXXXXXXX
: TRADE NOTES
A 10 percent increase in sales so far this year over the
same part of 1939 and a "present backlog of orders 400 percent
greater than at this time last year" were reported for the Strom-
berg-Oarlson Telephone Manufacturing Comoany at Rochester, N.Y. ,
by its President, Wesley M. Angle. Plans were under way, he
added, "for an ambitious program in the radio division", which is
active in the frequency modulation field.
Blevins Davis, NBC Supervisor of Educational Programs,
will preside over the radio section of the annual convention of
the American Education Theater Association and National Teachers of
Speech, in Washington, December 31.
For the year to date, newspaper linage is up about 2 per¬
cent, magazines about 4 percent and radio about 16.5 percent,
according to the New York Times . Newspapers and magazines are
obviously lagging behind retail advertising figures while radio
is considerably ahead.
WOR last week began broadcasting holiday-season announce¬
ments calling listeners' attention to the fact that the Radio
Servicemen of America will gladly call for old unused radios, re¬
condition them, and deliver them without charge to charitable
institutions. Charitable organizations wanting reconditioned
radios were advised to communicate with WOR, which will transmit
tne requests to the RSA.
A report on the radio situation in Tonga by Consul George
Bliss Lane was issued in the "Radio, Telephone, Telegraph" Bulle¬
tin of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.
The Gilfilian Bros. , Inc. , radio plant was destroyed by
fire last Saturday with a loss estimated by Fire Department offic
ials at $300,000. Seventeen fire companies, comprising 90 men,
fought the blaze for two hours.
XXXXXXXXX
- 11 -
12/5/40
ROY C. HOPGOOD, I. T. & T. PATENT ATTORNEY, DIES
Roy C. Hopgood, 54, General Patent Attorney of the Inter¬
national Telephone & Telegraph Corporation, died last week at East
Oranae, N.J. General Hospital after a brief illness. flr. Hopgood
served the telephone industry for 31 years as cable engineer and
patent attorney for the Western Electric Company in Chicago and
New York and for the past five years as General Patent Attorney
for the I. T. & T. System.
Mr. Hopgood was appointed General Patent Attorney for
the I. T. & T. System in 1936. He was regarded as one of the most
astute lawyers in the patent field relating to electrical communi¬
cations and was widely known and well liked in the communications
industry in Europe as well as the United States.
He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Margaret Brown Hopgood,
and two sons, Roy C. Hopgood, Jr., and Robert B. Hopgood, all of
Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
xxxxxxxxx
ZENITH ANNUAL PROFIT UP TO MILLION
Zenith Radio Corporation reports a consolidated operat¬
ing profit for the first six months ended October 31, 1940, of its
current fiscal year amounting to $1,158,872, after depreciation,
excise taxes and liberal reserves, but before provisions for Feder¬
al income taxes, as per the company's books. This amounts to $2.35
per share on 492,464 shares outstanding.
"Assuming the present tax law will not be changed with
respect to 1940 earnings, this profit would be subject to the pre¬
sent normal Federal income tax but not to excess profits tax in
view of the company's annual average gross earnings over the past
four years amounting to approximately $1,400,000.00 per year",
Commander E. F. McDonald, Jr. , President, reports.
"Unit shipments during the six month period were the
largest for any similar six month period in the company's history.
Unfilled orders at October 31 and new orders received subsequently
are sufficient to maintain the present rate of production until
Christmas. "
Deliveries of automobile radios to automobile manufactur¬
ers with whom the company has contracts are greater this year by a
substantial margin than in any previous year. The company's new
foot controlled radio, which was shown to the public for the first
time at the New York Automobile Show, is being most enthusiastically
receive d.
XXXXXXXXXXX
12 -
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
DEPARTMENT'
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DEC q mrj
INDEX TO ISSUE OF DECEMBER 6, 1940
Monopoly Splits FCC But Early Report Hoped For.. . 2
Flamm Reported Selling WMCA For $1,000,000 . 4
Charges FCC Going Beyond Authority . 5
McGrady Called To Help End Defense Strikes . 6
FCC Outlines Administrative Procedure . 7
Fort Industry Establishes Toledo f&dio Center
Station WAR Opened To Amateurs .
Seven Stations Granted Power Increases . 10
Rules Waived For Drafted Radio Operators . 10
11
Trade Notes .
Philips Radio Puts New Portable On The Market
New Public Notice Numbering .
12
12
to to
MONOPOLY SPLITS FCC BUT EARLY REPORT HOPED FOR
As far apart apparently as they were before the hearings
on the oral arguments began, the members of the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission are now nevertheless hard at work in an effort
to reconcile their differences and to have the so-called Monopoly
report on whether regulations should be enacted governing chain
broadcasting, ready for the new Congress when it convenes in
January. There may be further delay but the Commissioners are
evidently in the mood to do their "derndest" to get the report to
Congress which has already accused the Commission of stalling before
the gentlemen on the Hill hurl any more over-ripe tomatoes at them.
Although the two day FCC hearings of legal arguments on the monopoly
report were finished on schedule time, final action cannot be taken
until consideration has been given to additional briefs which may
be filed until Monday, December 16.
The two big questions which are causing internal strife
are (a) does the Communications Act give the Federal Communications
Commission such commercial jurisdiction as the much discussed
Monopoly report would have it take in, and (b) if it does, how shall
it exercise that power?
It is the contention of one faction among the Commission¬
ers that they very definitely do not have the power. If the Com¬
mission assumed jurisdiction that, it was pointed out, it would
find itself dangerously close to the business side of chain broad¬
casting and in direct contact with the Supreme Court ruling in the
Sanders' case which declared that the Act gives the Commission no
control over the business of the stations or of their management
or policy. It was further argued that if the chains were guilty
of a monopoly that the FCC should turn over its evidence to the
Department of Justice with the suggestion that anti-trust proceed¬
ings be inaugurated. It would not, in the opinion of those hold¬
ing that belief, be up to the FCC to decide the guilt.
If the Commissioners decide they have the power to act to
curb an alleged monopoly, then as one official put it "they must
decide how to use this power intelligently and not in a way to
destroy radio".
It was the opinion of one of the lawyers representing the
chains in that a majority of the Commissioners favored some sort of
restriction of the activities of the chains and that they believed
they had the power to do it. He said he believed some regulations
on contracts might be recommended in the final report. This man
declared, however, that the recommendations in the Committee report
were much more severe and went much farther than most of them would
want to go. After all, he concluded, the Committee report was
simply something to shoot at.
12/6/40
F
It was learned on excellent authority that there wasn't
a chance of the Commission adopting the Committee renort as it
now stands. "This renort is too full of errors", he added, "and
will be entirely rewritten. "
Louis 0. Caldwell, counsel for the Mutual Broadcasting
System, following representatives of NBC and CBS who had been heard
previously, expressed the ooinion that the Commission has the
authority to enact regulations governing chain broadcasting. Mr.
Caldwell insisted that affiliated stations should be kept free of
network or contractual relations. The Counsel favored regulations
designed to prevent interference and the development of monopolies.
There should be such restraints, Mr. Caldwell told the
Commission, and for the "public interest, convenience and neces¬
sity", they should be imposed by the Commission in the exercise of
its obligation under the Communications Act; but he criticized as
too far-reaching and "unnecessarily prolix" the draft proposals pre¬
sented for discussion on the basis of network inquiry by the Com¬
mission' s Monopoly Committee.
"The situation is not serious, nor are serious difficul¬
ties involved in larger cities", Mr. Caldwell said.
At the request of the Commission and for the correction
of evils which he argued hed resulted from holdings of major chains
of station facilities in strategic marketing areas, Mr. Caldwell
submitted suggested special regulations applicable to standard
broadcast stations engaged in chain broadcasting. The oroposals
were listed under the following heads: "Definitions", "Licensing
of Standard Broadcast Stations to Network Organizations", "Contracts
Between National Network Organizations and Station Licensees" and
"Contracts Between Regional Network Organizations and Station
Licensees " .
The Mutual Broadcasting System sought to buy contracts
of certain affiliates of the National Broadcasting Co. Blue network
about a year and a half ago, the FCC was informed by Philip J.
Hennessey, counsel for NBC, during rebuttal arguments on the
Monopoly report. He said the sale, if consummated, would have left
the network without sufficient stations to carry on a chain.
Questioned as to the reason for NBC maintaining an
Artists' Bureau for retaining the exclusive services of talent,
Judge A. L. Ashby, General Counsel for NBC, said the company found
many problems in the artists' service field. For example, he said
a program for services of an artist will be sold and later it would
develop that the artist had sold his time to some one else. He
said that artists sought the services of the Bureau voluntarily and
that there were 200 other organizations they could choose to handle
their services.
Speaking for the Associated Music Publishers, Inc., W. C.
Herdman told the Commission that his organization aoproved all the
draft regulations advanced by the network inquiry committee as a
basis for discussion.
12/6/40
Ben S. Fisher, representing the Association of Radio
Transcription Producers of Hollywood, Inc. , urged further modifica¬
tion of ~FCC regulations respecting transcription announcements by
omitting announcement at beginning of transcribed programs.
Transcriptions, Mr. Fisher said, are the life blood of
small radio stations and their only remedy, against competition from
networks and larger stations.
Martin Gang, of Independent Artists Representatives, asked
the Commission to take steps to keep the networks from destroying
free competition in the artists' agency field. He declared that
the establishment of Artists' Bureaus by the networks constituted
unfair competition and threatened to destroy the independent bureaus.
Waddill Hatchings, Chairman of the Board of Associated
Music Publishers, Inc. , commended the Monopoly report but expressed
the opinion that it does not go far enough. He admitted that chain
broadcasting was performing a good service, but he contended that
because it is dominated by NBC and CBS, it constitutes a monopoly.
The two networks, he charged, have a stranglehold on the
industry by being able to make a "package offer" of talent and time
or transcriptions. He argued that the FCC should not allow broad¬
casters to engage in the transcription business.
FLAMM REPORTED SELLING WMCA FOR $1,000,000
There was no comment at the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion regarding the report that Donald Flamm had sold WMCA in New
York for $1,000,000 to a group headed by Edward J. Noble, former
Under Secretary of Commerce. The record showed, however, that an
application had been received from the Knickerbocker Broadcasting
Company, operators of WMCA, for transfer of the corporation from
Mr. Flamm to Mr. Noble, along with 100 shares of common stock. Mr.
Flamm was quoted in New York as saying that he wouldn't issue any
statement while the approval of the petition was pending before the
Communications Commission.
Some political significance was attached to the deal ow¬
ing to the fact that Mr. Noble was a strong backer of Wendell Willkic
and his buying one of the largest broadcasting stations in New York
was construed as another move on the part of Willkie ' s friends to
strengthen themselves for the next campaign. Mr. Noble, a man of
great wealth, havin* made his money through the manufacture of
"Life Savers" candy, of which corporation he is still Chairman, and
a Republican, was appointed Under Secretary of Commerce by President
Roosevelt when Harry Hopkins became Secretary.
Mr. Noble had previously served as Chairman of the Civil
Aeronautics Authority. Mr. Noble resigned just before the campaign
4
12/6/40
to run for the Senate in Connecticut and to work for Wendell Willkie.
It was pointed out that WMCA might prove very useful for Mr. Noble
to keep in touch with his friends in Connecticut in case he should
decide to run for the Senate again, as the station is heard very
well in that area.
Like Willkie, Mr. Noble served in the World War. He is
58 years old, a graduate of Yale, and a member of the Industrial
Advisory Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
XXXXXXXX
CHARGES FCC GOING BEYOND AUTHORITY
Hammering away on the argument that the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission network investigation Committee has no jurisdiction
over the business end of radio, Senator Gurney (R. ), of South
Dakota, declared in the Senate:
’’What is our country coming to when a Commission proposes
regulations in excess of its authority, though it has made no find¬
ing of abuses? To the contrary, the public appreciation of the ser¬
vice rendered by the networks is probably greater and more wide¬
spread than the public appreciation for any other industry.
"How does the Commission, in proposing these rules, square
its thinking with the decision of the Supreme Court of the United
States given in the Sanders Brothers case only a year ago, in which
it said:
"’But the Act does not essay to regulate the business of
the licensee. The Commission is given no supervisory control
of the progress of business management or of policy. ’
"And how does the Commission square its thinking with the
statement it made in its brief in the Supreme Court case I have Just
mentioned, when it said:
"'But the Act confers on the Commission no jurisdiction
whatsoever on the business in connection with which the trans¬
mitting equipment is used. ’
"How does the Commission square its proposals with the
further statement of the President of the United States in his let¬
ter of only last Tuesday to the broadcasting industry congratulat¬
ing it on its twentieth anniversary? In that letter the President
said:
11 ’Your Government has no wish to interfere or hinder the
continued development of the American system of broadcasting.
Radio was born and developed in the real American way, and
its future must continue on that basis. ’ "
Senator Gurney’s interest in radio is that he formerly
owned Station WNAX, at Yankton, S. D.
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Me GRADY CALLED TO HELP END DEFENSE STRIKES
Turning to him as perhaps the one man who could do the
job. Secretary of War Stimson has enlisted the services of Edward
F. Me Grady, former Assistant Secretary of Labor, now Vice-President
in Charge of Labor Relations for the Radio Corporation of America,
to help put an end to the airplane factory and other National
Defense project strikes which have so seriously been embarrassing
the Administration. Mr. Me Grady nominally will have the title of
Consultant on Labor Matters to Secretary Stimson.
In reality Mr. McGrady, who has been released from part
of his RCA duties by David Sarnoff and will serve the Government
without pay, will be the War Department’s No. 1 Trouble Shooter.
In this capacity he will be right at home, having been a labor
trouble shooter for the past 40 years. His biggest task in this
line was when hewas Assistant Administrator of the NRA, when his
understanding of the labor point of view and direct approach en¬
abled him to settle labor disputes in the field.
Mr. McGrady is expected to work in with Sidney J. Hillman,
labor member of the National Defense Advisory Commission.
Mr. McGrady worked as a newspaper pressman in Boston,
became President of the Boston Printing Pressmen's Union and later
was elected President of the Boston Central Labor Union and the
Massachusetts State Federation of Labor.
For many years he played a large part in the organiza¬
tional and legislative work of the American Federation of Labor.
He is the author of the Toledo Peace Plan for averting labor strife
through employer-employee cooperation.
He was called to a post similar to his new one when he
became Special Adviser on Labor Relations to Secretary Baker in 1917
and 1918.
Besides his governmental work under Secretary Perkins and
General Hugh S. Johnson, Mr. McGrady, earlier in his career, was a
member of the Boston Common Council and of the Massachusetts House
of Representatives.
In recent years Mr. McGrady frequently has advised the
War Department on labor relations and has often lectured at the Army
Industrial College.
XXXXXXXXX
6
12/6/40
FCC OUTLINES ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE
The Federal Communications Commission has just issued a
12-page statement of that body's administrative procedure. It
begins by explaining that the Federal Communications Commission is
composed of seven Commissioners appointed by the President, subject
to Senate advice and confirmation. The President also designates
the Chairman. The normal term of a Commissioner is seven years. A
Commissioner is not permitted to engage in any other business dur¬
ing such tenure. Under terms of the creative act, "not more than
four Commissioners shall be members of the same political party".
The Commission functions as a unit in administrative mat¬
ters. It retains direct supervision of all activities but dele¬
gates certain routine responsibilities. Committees, consisting
usually of three members, have made special studies and supervised
particular undertakings. A case in point was the report last June
by such a committee which investigated chain broadcasting methods.
As the result of two years of inquiry, this committee rendered a
13000-page report. The latter was based upon more than 10,000
pages of testimony and nearly 800 exhibits, obtained largely through
hearings which continued for 73 da.ys.
The Commission normally holds at least two en banc meet¬
ings each week. On Tuesdays it acts on various matters relating to
radio, and telegraph and telephone. At such time the Commission
considers -
Applications for construction permits for new stations
or modifications of existing construction permits or licenses
involving changes in frequency, power, transmitter and studio
sites, or change in name of licensee.
Applications for voluntary or involuntary control of
company or corporation holding license.
Also, Petitions for rehearing; Dismissal of applications;
Retiring of Applications to closed files; Adoption of new rules or
amendments to existing rules; Suspension of amateur or operator
licenses; Authority to supplement existing facilities of telephone
or telegraph companies; Extension of temporary authority to common
carriers to communicate with foreign countries; Other common car¬
rier matters, such as investigation and suspension of tariffs, and
Admissions to practice.
On Wednesdays the Commission acts on docket cases, that
is to say, cases which have been accorded public hearings. Where
the Commission, upon examination of a particular broadcast applica¬
tion, is unable to determine that a grant will serve the public
interest, the case is designated for formal hearing upon specific
issues, and all persons interested are given opportunity to be
heard. After a hearing has been held, "Proposed Findings of Fact
and Conclusions" are issued by the Commission. The parties are
allowed additional time in which to file exceptions and to request
7
12/6/40
oral argument before final decision is made. If no exceptions or
requests for oral argument are received, the Commission generally
issues an order adopting and making effective its proposed decision.
If exceptions are filed, the Commission may, after oral argument,
affirm, modify, or reverse the proposed findings. This is the final
determination unless there is a petition for rehearing or unless
there is litigation.
The work of the Special Commission Board is defined. Also
that in addition to en banc meetings, the Commissioners individually
preside at particular hearings when designated to do so by the Com¬
mission. Each month the Commissioners, in rotation, are allocated
other specific duties. These assignments are changed, thus permit¬
ting each Commissioner to be directly informed on various phases of
Commission activity, at the same time conserving the principal por¬
tion of each Commissioner's time for consideration of matters in¬
volved in action by. the Commission as a whole. In any month one
Commissioner will act upon applications for requests for special
temporary broadcast authorizations. Another will consider motions
or petitions in cases designated for formal hearing, final disposi¬
tion of which is, of course, reserved for the Commission as such.
The functions of the Law Department, Engineering Depart¬
ment, Accounting, Statistical and Tariff Department and the
Secretary’s Office are set forth in great detail. It concludes
with an explanation of the hearings and motions docket in part as
follows :
The Communications Act requires that the Commission grant
radio authorizations without hearing if it is able to determine from
the information before it that the authorization would serve public
interest, convenience and necessity. Under present practice, when
the Commission is satisfied from the information before it that a
grant is warranted, it proceeds to authorize the issuance of the
license, which grant is final rather than conditional in its terms.
The rules fully protect the interests of persons other than the
applicant by providing for the filing of petitions for reconsidera¬
tion within a 20-day period. The Commission then undertakes the bur¬
den of determining and specifying the controversial issues and on
which the result of the hearing must depend. In order to save time
and money, both for the applicant and for the Commission, effort is
now made to eliminate issues which would unnecessarily complicate
the hearing.
The Commission's rules now require all parties who desire
to appear in opposition to an application to file petitions to inter¬
vene, by means of which their interests may be tested, and parties
are required to make a showing that the requested intervention will
be in the public interest.
In 1939 the Commission made provision for the holding of
oral argument on all interlocutory motions, pleadings and matters
of procedure which arise in cases pending before it. These inter¬
locutory matters are now placed on a Motions Docket presided over
by an individual Commissioner, which is called Friday of each week.
Provision has also been made for the disposition in chambers of
emergency motions, after proper notice to all parties.
XXXXXXXX
—
12/6/40
/
FORT INDUSTRY ESTABLISHES TOLEDO RADIO CENTER
The first move in a plan to establish a radio center in
Toledo was made recently when The Forst Industry Company, operators
of WSPD, moved its executive offices into the firm1 s own building
at 136 Huron Street.
The building was purchased by The ^ort Industry Company
as the first step in a program to centralize the broadcasting
activities of WSPD and the operations of The Fort Industry Co. ,
which controls five other stations, under one roof.
Thus far, only J. H. Ryan, Vice-President of The Fort
Industry Co, , and General Manager of all stations, and his Account¬
ing Department have moved to the Broadcast Building. The studios
and general offices of WSPD, which have been located atop the
Commodore Perry Hotel for a number of years, will also occupy the
Broadcast Building within a year.
Mr. Ryan's office, with that of George B. Storer, Presi¬
dent, the accounting offices and an audition room are situated on
the Broadcast Building's second floor. WSPD's studios and offices
will eventually be located on the first floor. The remaining of¬
fices will be. planned to let to tenants whose business is allied to
the industry.
The Broadcast Building has been completely remodeled, out¬
side and in. General architects were Mills, Rhines, Bellman &
Nordhoff. Executive offices were designed by Robert Deigert, Toledo
architect. Furnishings by Stow-Davis, Inc., Grand Raoids, Mich.;
F. 8. Myers and Son Furniture Company, Toledo; J. F. Bennett
Studios, Toledo.
xxxxxxxxxx
STATION WAR OPENED TO AMATEURS
Radio amateurs can communicate now with Station WAR, the
War Department's radio net control station, during certain specific
periods, it was announced. The program will expand activities of
the Army amateur radio system, which would be utilized in an emer¬
gency .
Station WAR will use a 4,025 kilocycle frequency every
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday between 7 and 8 P.M. , EST,
to communicate with amateurs on the 3,500-4,000 kilocycle frequency
band.
WAR will operate on 13,320 kilocycles between 10 and 11
P.M. on the same nights to pick uo calls from the amateurs on
14,000-14,400 kilocycles.
XXXXXXXXXX
9
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12/6/40
SEVEN STATIONS GRANTED POWER INCREASES
Power increases have been granted to Station WFEA,
Manchester, N. H. , from 500 watts to 1 KW. , WBIG, Greensboro, N. C. ,
1 to 5 KW; WNAX, Yankton, S. D. , 1 to 5 KW; KSRO, Santa Rosa, Cal. ,
250 watts to 1 KW.
Also, WTRY, Troy, 950 watts to 1 KW; KGEZ, Kalispell,
Mont. , 100 watts to 1 KW, and KUTA, Salt Lake City, 250 watts to
1 KW.
Power increases have been applied for by KDRO, Sedalia,
Mo., which seeks 1 KW; WAKR, Akron, Ohio, 5 KW; WMBR, Jacksonville,
Fla. , 10 KW. , and KLCN, Blythe ville, Ark. , 1 KW.
xxxxxxxxx
RULES WAIVED FOR DRAFTED RADIO OPERATORS
As a particular convenience to licensees drafted or other¬
wise called into military service, the Federal Communications Com¬
mission suspended until January 1, 1942, that part of its rules and
regulations requiring proof of satisfactory service in connection
with renewal of commercial and amateur radio operators. This blank¬
et exemption pertains to nearly 100,000 operators of both classes.
General waiver of these provisions was considered at a
conference of Commission officials with representatives of inter¬
ested labor organizations, including the International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, Commercial Telegraphers Union of North
America, American Communications Association, Maritime Committee
of the C.I.O., National Federation of Telephone Workers, Federation
of Long Lines Telephone Workers, and the Association of Technical
Employees of N. B. C.
The controlling factor in the formulation of this broad
and simple procedure was the mutual desire to relieve those called
into service of routine details. The Commission is aware of the
importance of maintaining the present high standards of proficiency
of licensed operators, and also of guarding against a shortage of
such skilled workers. It will, accordingly, continue to give these
problems careful attention, and should experience indicate the need
for change the Commission will act accordingly.
XXXXXXXX
10
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12/6/40
TRADE NOTES
The Colonial Broadcasting Company at Norfolk, Va. , has
applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a new station
to he operated on 1200 kilocycles, 250 watts, unlimited time.
The Columbia Broadcasting System has been granted special
temporary authority to transmit Sunday concerts of N. Y. Philharmon¬
ic Orchestra to Mexican Station XEQ, and other stations located in
the Republic of Mexico.
Station KFBC, Cheyenne, Wyoming, becomes an affiliate of
the National Broadcasting Company December 7. KFBC joins the Blue
Mountain Group as a bonus outlet, bringing the total number of NBC
affiliates to 219 as of December 15. - — "
Two new stations will go on the air soon, one at Lawton,
Okla. , operated by Willard Carver, and the other at Harlan, Ky. ;
Blanfox Radio Company. Both will be 250 waiters.
The Commission has amended its Rules Governing Coastal
and Marine Relay Services (Part 7) and Rules Governing Ship Service
(Part 8), effective March 1, 1941.
The NBC Radio- Recording Division has just released, with
its regular weekly Thesaurus continuity, a special script for a
series of thirteen fifteen-minute participation shows entitled
"The Christmas Calendar." Program is timed to include three minutes
of copy, eight-and-a-half minutes of music, and three one-minute
commercials.
—
WOR was awarded one of the 1940 plaques for "Showmanage-
raent" by the trade publication Variety. " Showmanagement " is defin¬
ed as "the art of shrewdly blending the best practices of modern
business ’management’ and ’showmanship' in terms of the public, the
Government, and the advertiser."
Tiobert Henderson of the NBC News and Special Events
Department, a Lieutenant Senior Grade in the Naval Reserve, is the
first NBC employee to be called for duty. ^
XXXXXXXX
11
12/6/40
PHILIPS RADIO PUTS NEW PORTABLE ON THE MARKET
The Philips Radio N. V. , of ’Eindhoven, has recently brought
on the market a new portable 4-tube set, Model 122 A-B-C, which is
constructed for universal AC-DC and battery operation, U. ' S. Consul
George R. Canty, of Amsterdam, reports through the Bureau of Foreign
and Domestic Commerce. There are two operating knobs, one for tun¬
ing and the other for both volume regulation and contacting. It has
a tuning rente of 200 to 595 meters.
The set weights 6 kilograms, including batteries, and is
28 c.m. high, 26.7 c.m. wide, and 18 c.m. deep. It retails for 75
florins, including batteries.
According to the local press, the case has been fitted
for use abroad by a special paint process. The tubes have been
especially designed in the Philips’ laboratory so as to operate on
a very small current apparatus, which is entirely adapted to the
sensitive superheterodyne, while the quality of reception may be
enhanced through the use of a common antenna connected to the set.
XXXXXXXXX
NEW PUBLIC NOTICE NUMBERING
Since the recent revision of the Federal Communications
Commission's mailing list, it appears that Public Notices of ac¬
tions taken by the Commission on broadcast, telephone and telegraph
matters, now numbered consecutively, should be segregated into two
separate series.
Therefore, as a convenience to keeping such record, start¬
ing December 2, Public Notices of actions taken on broadcast matters
were designated as follows: ACTIONS OF THE COMMISSION, Report No. 1
(Broadcast). The same system will apply to Public Notices of ac¬
tions on telephone and telegraph matters, l.e., ACTIONS OF THE COM¬
MISSION, Report No. 1 - (Telephone and Telegraph).
The last report which will appear under the old system of
numbering was No. 1210.
XXXXXXXX
"What procedure should be followed in the event of the
death of a station licensee?" inquires a Chattanoogan. In such
cases the administrator of the estate should make application to
the Federal Communications Commission for an assignment of license
to be exercised pending settlement of the estate. When the estate
is settled, the administrator should make application for assignment
of license to the party who is to carry on station oneration.
XXXXXXXX
- 12 -
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
p.P.OAOC^STWSG COm
4 i \\ ‘'1*- 1
INDEX TO ISSUE OF DECEMBER 10, 1940
Printers Would Tax Stations Crossing Over $25,000 . 2
FCC Redefines "Metropolitan District" Term . 3
New FM Call Letter System Devised . 4
FM Application Form Revised . 5
Seven New FM Stations To Cover 50,000 Square Miles . 6
More Than 200 U. S. Stations Broadcast In Foreign Language . 7
To Try Both Boston And Denver In The 830 Kc. Frequency . 8
Sees Radio Stimulant In Reader Cain . 9
Trade Notes . 10
Radio Gets 15,000 ASCA? Songs . 11
Hope McGrady May Make Anti-Strike Legislation Unnecessary . 11
FCC Amends Rules 'Governing Operators . 12
RCA To Greet New Year With Dividends . 12
December 10, 1940
PRINTERS WOULD TAX STATIONS GROSSING OVER $25,000
A graduated tax of from 10 to 20$ on the gross incomes
of broadcasting station whose revenue is more than $25,000 a year
is said to have been one of the proposals in a four-point radio
legislative program which it is understood the International Allied
Printing Trades Association adopted at its recent meeting in New
Orleans. It was assumed that the stations grossing less than
$25,000 annually - 175 in number - were mostly educational and non¬
revenue producing - and for these the Printing Trades did not
advocate a tax. Enactment of Congressional legislation levying a
10$ tax was suggested, however, on stations whose annual gross was
more than $25,000 but less than $100,000. A fifteen percent tax
was advocated on a gross of a station earning more than $100,000
but less than $500,000, and twenty oercent on a gross in excess of
$500,000.
The Printing Trades, which believe radio profits should
be taxed because of the inroads it has made on the advertising
revenues of newspapers and magazines, is understood to feel that
the proposed tax would not be too hard on the stations. It is said
to have been based on the profits the stations themselves reported
to the Federal Communications Commission. The assertion was further
made that even after paying from 10 to 20 percent tax, the stations
would still make a substantial profit on capital invested.
John B. Haggerty, President of the Allied Printing Trades'
Association sometime ago declared that radio advertising which in
1929 received but 3 cents of the advertising dollar, in 1939 receiv¬
ed directly some 19 cents of the advertising dollar. For 1939,
newspapers received 16 percent less, magazines 17 percent less and
fann papers 50 percent less of the advertising dollar than they
received in 1919. Where the newspaper and magazine advertising was
reduced millions of dollars, the direct income of radio broadcasting
increased from $40,000,000 in 1929 to $170,000,000 in 1919, he
asserted.
Mr. Haggerty sounded a call to arms to the printers on
this because of what he said was the already substantial loss of
printers’ jobs, the threatened increased loss of job opportunities,
and because the loss of advertising revenues will ultimately mean
retarding efforts of those employed by the printed word to secure
better wages.
The second point in the four-point radio legislative pro¬
gram adopted by the Allied Printing Trades at New Orleans was under¬
stood to be a definite restriction by Congress on the sale of radio
time for commercial purposes. The printers would request that here¬
after such time be limited to 25$. Again it was argued that even
with this restriction the radio stations and networks would still
be able to make a handsome profit.
- 2 -
12/10/40
The third point in the Printing Trades program was that
the FCC rule which restricts the number of television and FM licen¬
ses given to any group be extended to all radio licenses - that no
group be allowed to have more than three licenses.
Point four in the New Orleans program was that Congress
enact legislation restricting the issuing of radio station licenses
to persons other than those residing in the locality in which the
stations are located. The assumption here is that people who
actually live there are better able to understand the local needs
and thus to better serve the public interest.
The New Orleans convention of the International Printing
Trades Association did not declare for government ownership of radio'.
Copies of the four point radio legislative program will be placed in
the hands of every Senator and Representative in the new Congress
and it is understood will be vigorously followed up in other ways.
This is all in line with the declaration of Mr. Haggerty
last September who, speaking at the Golden Anniversary of the Inter¬
national Printing Pressmen in Tennessee, foreshadowed the waging of
a bitter fight upon radio by the printers. He called radio advertis¬
ing the Frankenstein of orinted publications that deprived thous¬
ands of printing trades workers of their jobs. Mr. Haggerty declar¬
ed that broadcast stations obtained a monopoly from the Government,
for which they paid the Government nothing, and have received mil¬
lions in profits. He further recommended that every union appoint
a Radio Committee, and that that Committee, as well as local mem¬
bers of the union call the situation to the attention of the mem¬
bers of Congress. Mr. Haggerty concluded by announcing that the
Allied Printing Trades Association had created a Committee on Radio,
consisting of George L. Berry, President, International Printing
Pressmen; Edward J. Volz, President Photo-Engravers International
Union, and himself to act upon this matter.
The New Orleans action is, therefore, considered the
initial move to bring the entire radio situation, insofar as it
affects the printers, to the attention of the new Congress when it
convenes next month.
XXXXXXXXX
FCC REDEFINES "METROPOLITAN DISTRICT" TERM
The Federal Communications Commission amended the Rules
Governing Standard Broadcast Stations last week by adding the fol¬
lowing footnote :
"The term ‘-metropolitan district' as used in this sub¬
section is not limited in accordance with the definition given by
the Bureau of the Census but includes any principal center of popu¬
lation in any area11.
XXXXXXXX
- 3 -
■
12/10/40
NEW m CALL LETTER SYSTEM DEVISED
To provide distinctive calls for FM (frequency modulation)
broadcast stations, the Federal Communications Commission has adopt¬
ed a new system of call letters with interposed numbers for this now
commercially recognized broadcast service.
Under international agreement, to which the United States
is a party, the first letter (in some cases the first two letters)
of a call signal indicates the nationality of a station. The United
States is assigned the use of three letters - N, K, and W. Hence
the present domestic assignment of combinations beginning with these
letters. Call letters beginning with N are reserved for the exclus¬
ive use of the Navy and Coast Guard. Call letters beginning with
K are assigned to broadcast stations located west of the Mississippi
River and in the territories. Call letters beginning with W are
assigned to stations east of the Mississippi River. Any existing
call letters not in accordance with this procedure is due to the
fact that the station was licensed before the allocation plan was
adopted.
Consequently, the first call letter of an FM station must
be K or W, depending on its geographical location.
A second letter for an FM station will be assigned in
alphabetical order (with exception of E, which will be reserved for
non-commercial educational stations using frequency modulation) to
each station on a given frequency as licensed, thus providing 25
stations in each area for a given frequency. If more than 25 sta¬
tions are assigned on a given frequency, an additional letter will
be necessary.
However, between the initial letter and supplemental let¬
ter (or letters) two numbers will be utilized. These numbers will
indicate the frequency assignment. This is possible because all FM
stations are in the 42,000-50,000 kilocycle band, and because all
FM frequencies are assigned on the odd hundreds in kilocycles. Thus,
the first figure and the last two figures of the frequency assign¬
ment can be dropped.
In addition, and where possible, the city or area will be
indicated by the second letter of a combination of second and third
letters. Letter combinations of this mnemonic character have been
assigned to each of the metropolitan trading centers. Thus, sta¬
tions in Boston will terminate with the letter B, while stations in
New York City will terminate with NY. Similarly, station's in the
District of Columbia will be identified with the suffix DC.
In brief, here is how the system works: W41B would indi¬
cate an FM station in the eastern section of the country (Boston)
operating on the frequency of 44,100 kilocycles, By the same token
K435T would apply to an FM station in the western part of the United
States (San Francisco) on the 44,300 kilocycle frequency.
- 4 -
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12/10/40
The letter E in the alphabetical arrangement will identi¬
fy non-commercial educational broadcast stations employing FM on the
new high frequency broadcast band. Five channels (42,000 to 43,000
kilocycles) are available to these educational stations.
There is no international regulation to bar the use of
this FM identifying system. In fact, a like principle is followed
by Chile in assigning calls to standard broadcast stations in that
country. The arrangement provides ample source of calls for future
FM stations. It is about the only source of new call combinations
which can be adapted, inasmuch as other types of calls are assigned
by treaty to stations and services other than broadcast. It has
the additional advantage of permitting identification of the fre¬
quency actually used, and for that reason should be popular with
listeners as well as broadcasters.
Further, it will not disturb the approximately 15,000
remaining four-letter call combinations which are being assigned to
the older services at the rate of between 40 and 50 a week. Even
if this average does not increase, such a reservoir will not last
more than six years. It should also be noted that under interna¬
tional treaty, ship stations have priority in the assignments of
radio call letters from the four-letter group.
XXXXXXXX
FM APPLICATION FORM REVISED
The Federal Communications Commission last Saturday an¬
nounced the adoption of a revised form of application for construc¬
tion permit for a new high frequency (FM) broadcast stations,
simplifying and clarifying the information requirements.
The new form (FCC No. 319, which is expected to be avail¬
able within a few days, was adopted following a series of confer¬
ences with representatives of the industry. At the invitation of
the Commission, a committee was formed to represent the National
Association of Broadcasters, the National Independent Broadcasters,
and a specially constituted FM Broadcasters Committee on Applica¬
tion Forms, as well as the Commission.
The result was not only simplification of the form so as
to stimulate the development of FM broadcasting, but a better mutual
understanding of the problems of the industry and the Commission in
presenting and determining facts on which decision must be based.
It was recognized that developments in this new commercial broadcast
field may at some future time indicate the advisability of future
changes in the form. The way was left open for meeting subsequent
needs through like exchange of views.
Following completion of the committee's work and adoption
of the revised form by the Commission, the following statement was
made on behalf of the industry group: "We think the form has been
greatly simplified and clarified from the point of view of the
- 5 -
12/10/40
applicant. It should be understood, of course, that in all our
discussions we were not dealing with any fundamental questions as
to the extent of the powers of the Commission. Our committee was
well pleased with the results of the conference,"
The usefulness of joint discussion and cooperation was
again demonstrated at the recent conferences. In this instance,
it was possible to so far meet the views of the industry that the
changes made were received with expressions of satisfaction by the
participants. At the same time no requirement essential to furnish¬
ing information needed by the Commission in its licensing work was
sacrificed.
XXXXXXXX
SEVEN NEW FM STATIONS TO COVER 50,000 SQUARE MILES
The States of Connecticut and Rhode Island, about half of
Massachusetts, a section of southeastern New York State, part of
Tennessee, and the Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York metropolitan
districts are scheduled to receive regular FM programs from seven
additional stations authorized by the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion. The prospective service areas of these new stations aggregate
nearly 50,000 square miles embracing more than 20,500,000 potential
listeners.
The slice of New England referred to, plus southeastern
New York including nearly all of Long Island, constitutes the 6,100
miles of territory with 1,118,000 population to be served by WDBC,
Inc., of Hartford, Conn., through the medium of a transmitter locat¬
ed on the west peak of Meriden Mountain, near Meriden, that State.
It will operate on 46,500 kilocycles.
Twelve million people are in the 8,500 square miles of
the potential metropolitan service area of Metropolitan Television,
Inc., and Bamberger Broadcasting Service, Inc., both of which receiv¬
ed grants to broadcast from New York, the former on 47,500 kilo¬
cycles and Bamberger on 47,100 kilocycles. Metropolitan's trans¬
mitter will be atop the Hotel Pierre. Bamberger will have its sta¬
tion at 444 Madison Avenue.
Four and one-half million persons are in the 10,800 square
miles of the Chicago area scheduled for service under grants to the
National Broadcasting Co. and WON, Inc. National Broadcasting Co.,
operating from the Civic Opera House, will use 46,300 kilocycles
(or another adequate frequency). WON will have a transmitter on a
485-foot downtown office building, using 45,900 kilocycles (or
another adequate frequency).
About 2,100,000 persons will be in the 8,400-square-mile
service radius of the Walker- Downing Radio Corp. , which will operate
from 341 Rising Main Street, Pittsburgh. This applicant will
specify a frequency adequate for such coverage.
6
12/10/40
An area of 16,000 square miles, with 819,000 population,
is to be served by the National Life & Accident Insurance Co. , of
Nashville, from a transmitter near Franklin, Tenn. This applicant
will use 44,700 kilocycles.
These grants are in addition to those announced last month
as assuring regular FM programs for Detroit, Los Angeles, Schenect¬
ady, Evansville ( Ind. ) , Binghamton (N.Y. ), Mt. Washington (N.H.),
Baton Rouge, Columbus (Ohio), Salt Lake City, Milwaukee, Chicago
and New York.
Applications by the Yankee Network and the Worcester Tele¬
gram Publishing Company to serve an identical widespread area from
practically the same site near Worcester, Mass. , on the frequencies
44,300 and 43,100 kilocycles respectively, were designated for joint
hearing.
The FCC bad previously voted, 4 to 2, in favor of an
application of the Yankee Network, Inc. , for a FM station at Paxton,
Mass. This, it was said, would have given the Yankee chain FM
coverage of the entire New England area and an advantage in obtain¬
ing income from advertisers in that section. Thus the FCC has
reversed its decision which was criticized as granting a regional
monopoly in the new frequency modulation broadcasting.
The original ^CC action was taken by Chairman James L. Fly
and Commissioners George Henry Payne, Paul Walker and Frederick T.
Thompson. Commissioners Norman S. Case and T. A. M. Craven voted
against granting the Paxton application without a hearing.
XXXXXXXXX
MORE THAN 200 U. 3. STATIONS BROADCAST IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Apropos the European war, there is more than passing inter¬
est in the fact that a total of 199 domestic radio stations now
schedule broadcasts in one or more foreign languages, and 57 addi¬
tional stations, while not now broadcasting in any foreign language,
have done so in the past six months. These figures are revealed in
an analysis of responses by broadcast stations to a recent question¬
naire of the Federal Communications Commission.
Thirty-one foreign languages are represented on 1,721 cur¬
rent weekly programs, representing nearly 1,330 hours of foreign
language programs a week. Approximately three- fourths of this broad¬
cast time is in the Italian, Polish, Spanish, Jewish and German lang¬
uages, the proportions decreasing in the order listed.
The smaller stations appear to predominate in the foreign
language field, 108 of the 199 stations having power not in excess
of 250 watts. However, a substantial number of the stations which
devote a considerable amount of time to foreign language programs
have greater power. There are 43 stations which broadcast 10 or
more hours a week in one or more foreign languages.
- 7 -
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12/10/40
A preponderance of the stations using foreign languages
are located in areas with considerable foreign- bom populations,
and assert that broadcasts in native tongues are popular with their
listeners and their advertisers.
XXXXXXXXXX
TO TRY- BOTH BOSTON AND DENVER IN THE 830 KC . FREQUENCY
The 830 kilocycle frequency can be used for broadcast pur¬
poses at night in Boston simultaneously with its employment in
Denver, the Federal Communications Commission holds in proposing to
amend its rules to permit more efficient use of this frequency.
In proposed findings of fact and conclusions, the Commis¬
sion proposes to grant the application of Matheson Radio Co., Inc.,
for a permit to increase the power of its station WHDH, at Boston,
from 1 to 5 kilowatts for unlimited time operation on the 830 fre¬
quency, using directional antenna at night. According to the pro¬
posed findings, this will not cause interference to the primary
service of any station, and any interference which such operation
may reasonably be expected to cause National Broadcasting Company's
station KCA at Denver, will be limited to interference with inter¬
mittent reception upon receivers located in the eastern part of the
United States.
"The granting of a permit therefor and operation of
Station WHDH as proposed by applicant", declares the proposed find¬
ings, "will enable it to deliver service of primary signal quality
to an area having a population of 3,093,000, or to 621,000 more
people than are now included within the primary service area of the
station. The hours of operation of applicant station will be ex¬
tended two and one-half hours during summer months, and a maximum of
five and one-half hours during winter months. This will provide a
new primary service to 94. 9 per cent of the Boston metropolitan area,
including a population of 2,185,000. In addition to the aforemen¬
tioned improvements and extension of service to residents in the
Boston area, there will be an improvement of service which applicant
station now endeavors to render over the fishing banks situated off
the New England coast. "
Accordingly, the Commission proposes to amend Section
3.25(a) of its rules which now limits the use of the frequency 830
kilocycles by one full-time station.
The proposed findings were concurred in by Commissioners
Thompson, Walker, and Payne , with Commissioners Case and Craven
voting in the negative, and Chairman Fly not participating.
XXXXXXXXX
8
12/10/40
SEES RADIO STIMULANT IN 5$ READER GAIN
Commenting upon the fact that daily and Sunday newspapers
have made outstanding gains over the previous year, with dailies
showing an increase of 4.77$ in 1940, the Editor & Publisher
declares :
"The fact that radio furnishes at least one news broad¬
cast on one or more spots on the dial every quarter hour has not
reduced the public's appetite for printed news; it may indeed have
whetted the desire for news presented for the reader's convenience
and easy understanding - a quality which the newspaper has to an
immeasurable degree over any medium limited to vocal communication. "
The war abroad and the presidential campaign at home have
apparently contributed to the fact that morning and evening papers
show approximately the same percentage of gain in circulation.
Morning papers lead with 4. 99$ increase over 1939, with evening
papers showing a 4.56$ gain during the same period. Sunday papers
ranked third with an increase of 3.16$. The combined morning and
evening totals show a gain of 4.77$.
Paul Scott Mowrer, editor of the Chicago Daily News, also
expressed the belief that radio has done a great service to news¬
papers by stimulating interest in foreign and national news.
"Radio supplements newspapers in a fine way", Mr. Mowrer
said. "Radio and the press are so entirely different that I can't
see what the quarrel is all about. If people are really interested
in something, they want to learn all they can about it - this is
where the newspaper steps in and functions beyond the scope of
radio. "
The Daily News editor referred to the pre-radio era when
baseball was big news before there was a radio in every barber shop
and the elevator boy could tell you the score inning by inning.
"We found that if spectators enjoyed the game, they would buy a
paper immediately after they le ft the ball park", he said, "but if
they didn't enjoy the game - that is, if it was dull and uninterest¬
ing - they wouldn't buy papers. Radio serves as an added stimulant
to whet the public's appetite for foreign and national news. Local
news does not have so much radio stimulant, but for general read¬
ability, you can't beat local copy."
XXXXXXXX
New York City is considering the installation of two-way
radio on City ferries to expedite their operation. All the city's
fire and police boats carry two-way radio.
XXXXXXXX
9
12/10/40
TRADE NOTES
The construction permit for a new high frequency broad¬
cast station by the St. Louis Star- Times Publishing Company has been
amended to change the frequency from 43,100 kilocycles to 44,700
kilocycles, coverage from 9900 to 12,480 square miles and to
change type of transmitter.
The Associated Press will start its new radio news ser¬
vice to stations around the middle of this month.
The American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (Long Lines Dept. )
has been granted by the Federal Communications Commission additional
frequencies 7570, 13400, 18240 kilocycles for an additional trans¬
mitter at Ocean Gate, N.J.; and the Tropical Radio Telegraph Co.,
Panama City, Panama, as another point of communication.
A Christmas advertising campaign featuring the new Philco
Photo-Electric radio phonograph is under way.
Proving himself a capable religious speaker, as well as
a Federal Communications Commissioner, George Henry Payne broadcast
an address over an NBC network on Universal Bible Sunday, December
8. Commissioner Payne spoke in part as follows:
"I am deeply sensitive of the honor that the Federal
Council of Churches and the American Bible Society have conferred
upon the Federal Communications Commission in asking a member of
that body to carry its message to the American people. And I thank
my fellow Commissioners for having chosen me as their voice on this
occasion. I have misgiving as to my own worth as the bearer of that
message, but no misgivings or doubts as to the worthiness and right¬
ness of this being the arm of government that should carry this
message. "
The Louisville Courier- Journal has just put on a daily
radio column.
R. C.A. Communications, Inc., has been granted authority
by the Federal Communications Commission to add Fort de France,
Martinique as a point of communication to its transmitting sta¬
tions at Rocky Point, San Juan, and New Brunswick.
The nation's first commercial order for a Frequency Modu¬
lation station was received by W2X0R, it was announced by WCR,
parent station, from the Longine-Wittenauer Co. , Inc. , New York
City.
XXXXXXXXXXX
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12/10/40
RADIO GETS 15,000 ASCAP SONGS
Pointed to as an important move in the Copyright fight
between ASCAP and the broadcasters, was the announcement in New York
that the Edward B. Marks Music Corporation, one of the largest music
publishers in the country, had transferred its catalogue from the
Society to Broadcast Music, Inc. The transfer becomes effective
January 1.
Mr. Marks, one of the early members of ASCAP, said that he
felt he never had received proper consideration from the Society
and that accordingly he was leasing the performing rights of his
catalogue of 15,000 songs to B.M.I. Julian T. Abeles, attorney for
Mr. Marks, said that the lease was for a five-year term at an
annual cost of approximately $250,000, or a total sum of $1,250,000.
"It's not the first time that Mr. Marks has walked out on
ASCAP and no member of the Society is surprised'*, Mr. Buck said.
"Many years ago, when we were fighting for our lives, Mr. Marks went
over to the ’tax-free music' movement. Mr. Marks is motivated pure¬
ly by his own financial considerations. "
Mr. Marks denied that he was a party to the "tax-free
music" movement of many years ago, when some publishers withdrew
from ASCAP to enable singers and bands to use their songs without
charge on the theory it would stimulate the sale of their sheet
music in stores.
XXXXXXXXX
HOPE McGRADY MAY MAKE ANTI-STRIKE LEGISLATION UNNECESSARY
That Edward F. Me Grady, former Assistant Secretary of
Labor, Vice-President of the RCA on leave, was called in by the
Administration to forestall legislation to break up National Defense
strikes, is expressed by the Washington Post, in part, as follows:
"The return to Washington of Edward F. McGrady as labor
consultant to Secretary Stimson is generally regarded as a move to
stave off enactment of anti-strike legislation applicable to defense
industries. Mr. McGrady has few peers as a conciliator, as shown
by his successful mediation of particularly tough labor disputes
during the turbulent years from 1934 to 1937. But neither he nor
the able conciliators of the Department of Labor can prevent strikes
and lockouts in defense industries unless the parties to a dispute
voluntarily accept their offers to mediate, and voluntarily agree
to abide by their decisions. "
xxxxxxxxxx
12/10/40
FCC AMENDS RULES GOVERNING OPERATORS
At a meeting of the Federal Communications Commission
having under consideration its Rules Governing Amateur Radio Sta¬
tions and Operators and its Rules Governing Commercial Radio
Operators, with particular reference to the provisions concerning
renewals; and
It appearing, that present conditions render it difficult
for commercial radio operators and for amateur radio station licen¬
sees and operators to make a showing of service or use required for
renewal or license; and that such difficulty will be accentuated in
many instances due to military service:
IT IS ORDERED, that Sections 12.26 and 12.66 of the Rules
Governing Amateur Radio and Section 13.28 of the Rules Governing
Commercial Radio Operators, in so far as the required showing of
service or use of license is concerned, BE, AND THEY ARE HEREBY,
SUSPENDED until further order of the Commission, but in no event
beyond January 1, 1942.
XXXXXXXXXX
RCA TO GREET NEW YEAR WITH DIVIDENDS
Following a regular meeting of the Board of Directors of
the Radio Corporation of America held last Friday in New York,
David Sarnoff, President of the Corporation, announced the following
dividends had been declared:
On the outstanding shares of $3.50 Cumulative Convert¬
ible First Preferred stock, S7-| cents per share, for the period
from October 1, 1940, to December 31, 1940, payable in cash on
January 1, 1941, to the holders of record of such stock at the close
of business December 13, 1940.
On the outstanding shares of nB’1 Preferred stock, $1.25
per share, for the period from October 1, 1940, to December 31,
1940, payable in cash on January 1, 1941, to the holders of record
of such stock at the close of business December 13, 1940.
On the outstanding shares of Common stock, 20 cents per
share, payable in cash on January 27, 1941, to the holders of record
of such stock at the close of business December 20, 1940.
XXXXXXXX
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2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
4 _ LEGAL DEPARTMENT j
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INDEX TO ISSUE OF DECEMBER 13, 1940
Warn Against Breaking Down Clear Channels . 2
New Commish Stumps ’Em . 5
Monopoly Brief Filing Extended To Xmas . 5
Maj. Horton - Two-Way Airplane Radio Inventor, Dies . S
A3CAP-NAB Scrap Washington Boomerang . 6
F.D.R. Woos Business In Sarnoff Letter . 8
New Washington Radio Station On Air . 9
Radio Lawyers Prepare Xmas Gridiron . . . 10
Trade Notes . 11
Trammell Makes Many Changes . 12
i
: I
WARN AGAINST BREAKING DOWN CLEAR CHANNELS
A sharp warning of the consequences of breaking the clear
channel rule in the Federal Communications Commission proposing to
permit WHDH at Boston, and KOA in Denver, to operate simultaneously
on 830 kilocycles was conveyed in a 10 page minority report by
Commissioners T. A. M. Craven and Norman S. Case. The action to
allow these two stations to operate at the same time on a clear
channel taken earlier in the week split the Commission by a vote of
3 to 2, Commissioners Thompson, Walker and Payne concurring; and
Commissioner T. A. M. Craven, the only radio engineer and technical
man on the Commission, and Commissioner Case, the most conservative
member, voting in the negative. Chairman Fly did not vote.
It was said that thus breaking down a clear channel would
be a very bad precedent which would result in poorer service to the
great farm areas. This would also work to the disadvantage of radio
set manufacturers. The poorer the farm service, the less desire on
the part of the millions of farmers to buy sets. It was said that
the entire radio industry might suffer as a result of the breaking
down of the clear channels.
Also it was argued that the good accomplished by the
North American Regional Broadcast Agreement clearing out a lot of
stations which had caused interference would be offset by the FCC
breaking down the clear channels and putting more back on. Inter¬
ference from such stations would play havoc with the farm areas
between the cities.
Important conclusions of Commissioners Craven and Case
are :
"If proper weight is given to all of the factors discussed
herein it must be concluded that Station WHDH has not proved that
any advantage which may accrue to him or to the people of the metro¬
politan district of Boston outweighs the disadvantages of:
"A. The application of unsound engineering in the solution
of the rural broadcast problem of the nation.
"B. The establishment of a precedent which may ultimately
result in a discrimination against rural listeners in
favor of those listeners living in metropolitan centers.
"C. The establishment of a precedent which may result ulti¬
mately in handicapping the United States in providing
for its people any desirable change in the organization
of radio broadcast facilities designed to improve rural
coverage .
- 2 -
12/13/40
"If the Commission desires to degrade any or all of the
few clear channels provided in Rule 3.25 (a), it would be far bet¬
ter to do so in a manner which benefits some of the underserved
rural population of the nation rather than to favor any metropoli¬
tan center already surfeited with radio service. "
Other excerpts from the Craven- Case minority report
follow:
"The applicant contends that operation of WHDH nighttime,
simultaneously with KOA would not cause interference to the latter,
but the testimony on this question is not in agreement. ” .
"Upon consideration of all the evidence material to the
issue, it is concluded that operation of WHDH as proposed would
cause interference to the reception of service rendered by Station
KOA in its extended secondary service area. " .
"Many radio listeners in the nation must not only rely
upon secondary service from clear channel stations for the only
broadcast service available to them but also millions of listeners
now rely upon a low grade of secondary service in order to enjoy
any broadcasting whatsoever. The most important problem confront¬
ing the Commission is to provide an improved radio service to
these rural listeners. It appears that in any successful solution
of this problem of rural broadcast coverage the Commission must
rely primarily upon clear channel stations operating in accord with
both Rule 3.25(a) and Rule 3.25(b), which now limit the use of the
frequency 830 kc. , by one full-time station" .
"All the clear channels now provided are barely sufficient
to provide service for the rural areas of the country at night.
Much of the rural areas receive no service in the daytime. There¬
fore, any reduction in the number of either 'of these classes of
clear channels would handicap the Commission in providing the much
needed improvement in rural coverage. This becomes obvious when it
is assumed (1) that the listeners in rural areas are entitled to
a choice of a minimum of four different programs, such as now pro¬
vided to radio listeners in most of the metropolitan centers of the
nation; (2) that the engineers of the country are correct in their
assertion that each rural listener having available only secondary
service must have signals available from at least two stations
transmitting the same program in order to obtain a reasonable degree
of continuity of service; and (3) that to secure the most ideal
geographical distribution of clear channel stations from the stand¬
point of rural coverage, it would be necessary to disregard natural
economic laws and establish such stations in places remote from
markets and the centers of talent.
"The technical quality of radio service in our cities is
superior to that now rendered rural areas throughout the nation.
Therefore, any course of action which handicaps the future ability
of the Commission to equalize quality of service between cities and
rural areas would be classed as discrimination against the rural
population. A reduction of the number of clear channels may easily
3
.
'
■J *1 s
12/13/40
result in real discrimination against rural listeners in favor of
the population living in metropolitan centers.
"In the consideration of the important rural phase of
the national radio broadcasting problem, the Commission must balance
the effect of Paragraph B, 8(d) of Part II of the North American
Regional Broadcasting Agreement, which reads as follows:
"'(d) If within the period of this Agreement the country
to which a clear channel has been assigned shall have made
use of the channel but not in the manner above prescribed
or not to the extent required by the provisions of this
Agreement, such country shall be considered as having
relinquished that portion of the rights which it has not
used and at the expiration of this Agreement the other
countries party thereto shall have the right, if they see
fit, to withdraw the unused privileges from such country
and to reassign them to any or all of the other interested
countries. '*
"This means that if the United States should degrade the
service on a particular class of radio channel on which it now has
prior rights, the United States would lose its right to protection
against the use of such channel in like manner by other nations.
For example, if the United States now designates a station to
operate in accordance with the Commission's Rule 3.25(a), other na¬
tions must not permit stations within their borders to operate in
such a manner as to cause interference to the service of the United
States' station within the borders of the United States. " .
"Listeners in these western areas of the country do not
receive either the quality or the variety of service now available
to the citizens of Boston. Therefore, to degrade further the ser¬
vice of rural listeners dependent in whole or in part upon KCA
and other clear channel stations is an Injustice. Moreover, favor¬
able Commission action in an isolated instance of this nature cre¬
ates a precedent, the mere existence of which may handicap future
ability to secure improved broadcast service to rural areas. There¬
fore, such favorable action in this case would constitute an action
resulting ultimately in the establishment of an unsound policy for
the nation as a whole. An unsound public policy of this nature
obviously would not benefit the listening public. Furthermore,
this deterioration of radio service is bound to result in reper¬
cussions against the entire radio industry.
"In this instance, granting in full the application of
WHDH would limit the future freedom of action of the Commission in
two ways, to wit. , (1) it would reduce the needed number of clear
channels under Rule 3.25(a), and (2) it would ultimately accord
rights to other nations which rights are not now conceded in the
North American Regional Broadcast Agreement. "
xxxxxxxx
- 4 -
10/ *±u
NEW COMMISH STUMPS ‘EM
It is hoped that when President Roosevelt returns to
Washington Monday from his fishing trip in the Caribbean, that he
will appoint the new member to the Federal Communications Commission
to succeed Col. Thad H. Brown. Although communications are supposed
to be paramount in the National Defense emergency, the position
has been vacant for six months - since June 30th to be exact.
Although numerous names have been mentioned, people
usually well informed seem to be in the dark as to who it may be.
Except that it must be a Republican and that, as usual, the appoint¬
ment will probably be political rather than anyone particularly
qualified or acceptable to the industry, nothing is known as to the
appointee .
XXXXXXXXXX
MONOPOLY BRIEF FILING EXTENDED TO XMAS
The FCC has extended the time of filing supplementary
briefs in the so-called Monopoly hearings, on whether regulations
should be enacted governing chain broadcasting to Tuesday, December
24. The original date set was December 16th.
The extension was asked for by the National Broadcasting
Company which request was granted by Commissioner T. A. M. Craven,
who was acting for the Commission at that time. The NBC asked
for a further extension until Thursday, January 2, 1941, and this
additional request has been referred to the full Commission for
action.
XXXXXXXXXX
MAJ. HORTON - TWO-WAY AIRPLANE RADIO INVENTOR, DIES
Maj. Harry Mack Horton, U.3. Army, retired, inventor of
the two-way airplane radio, died last Monday in Walter Reed Hospital
in Washington, D. C. , at the age of 63.
He devised and perfected the first method of radio com¬
munication from airplanes to the ground shortly before entering the
Army as a World War Air Corps Captain, and the United States Govern¬
ment paid him $75,000 for its use during the war.
In Europe at the time as chief assistant to Dr. Lee
deForest, who is considered one of the outstanding pioneers in radio
Major Horton worked in his spare time on a "trailing antenna" that
is still in use. Perfecting the antenna in two years' work, he
offered it to Dr. de Forest, but his employer declined to take any
credit for its invention. Dr. deForest and Maj. Horton were honored
Jointly last year at the New York World's Fair with a testimonial
dinner in recognition of the device.
During the war, Major Horton was an instructor of air¬
plane pilots and radio operators in California.
XXXXXXXXX
- 5 -
12/13/40
A3CAP-NAB SCRAP WASHINGTON BOOMERANG
If the music war we re settled tomorrow - and indeed there
is no such prospect at this writing - a tremendous amount of damage
will already have been done in Washington to both sides. It has
been a regrettable squabble between, as Sigmund Spaeth puts it, the
biggest wholesaler of musical compositions with the biggest retailer
This has called the attention of Congress and the nation to how much
money both sides were making doing business in the public domain,
without paying for the privilege.
Unless this writer is much mistaken, regardless of how
the copyright war is settled, it will serve to pull the temple down
on the participants who will most certainly suffer at the hands of
the new Congress. It is my belief that not only is there a pos¬
sibility of a Congressional investigation in an effort to fumigate
the past record of the Federal Communications Commission and other
things beginning where the Thad Brown Senate hearings left off, but
an inquiry into the monopoly and profit-making angles of chain
broadcasting. This to be followed in the new Congress by proposals
of tax on broadcasting stations such as the 10-20$ levy which will
be urged upon the members of the forthcoming Congress by the Inter¬
national Allied Printing Trades Association.
Much of this could have been avoided had the Composers
and the Broadcasters gotten together without the sound effects. As
it is now, it is becoming noisier every day and don't think for a
minute that Congress, the Department of Justice, the FCC, and
official Washington in general aren't taking it all in.
One excited band-leader went so far as to write a personal
letter to the President suggesting that WPA funds be used to pay
ASCAP, thus relieving the Broadcasters of the differential and set¬
tling the fight.
During the week there were several other developments at
the Washington end of the line. One of these was the U. S. Supreme
Court accepting for review a case that may determine whether ASCAP
is an illegal monopoly as charged in Nebraska litigation growing
out of a battle there over control of prices charged for music
played for public entertainment.
Officials of Nebraska sought a review by the highest
Court of a decision holding invalid a State anti-monopoly law aimed
at ASCAP which permitted public playing of music upon payment of
the original purchase price. This would break down the ASCAP charge
for music publicly played.
A three- judge Federal Court held that the legislation
violated the national copyright law by depriving the copyright owner
of the right to sell or withhold from sale as he might choose.
The legislation was challenged by the American Society of
Composers, Authors and Publishers, which controls the copyrights on
- 6
v ; ..
.
12/13/40
some 90 percent of the music played in this country. It contended
it was entitled to extra payment for music publicly played.
The Federal Communications Commission rejected the plea
of Frank Hummert, Vice-President of a New York advertising agency
that spent s about $10,000,000 a year on radio programs, that the
Commission mediate the controversy. The refusal was on the ground
(a) that the FCC had no jurisdiction over programs and (b) that it
had not been asked to mediate by either of the principal parties
concerned - the Broadcasters or the Composers. It was the conten¬
tion of Mr. Hummert that it would take twenty years to develop
enough music to replace the familiar tunes now controlled by ASCAP,
adding that "familiar music is the backbone of most of the success¬
ful musical programs and 90$ of the best familiar music is con¬
trolled by ASCAP”.
A possible settlement by consent decree of the six-year-
old anti-trust suit against the ASCAP, which might lead to a recon¬
ciliation of the Society’s current differences with the radio
industry, was reported by the Department of Justice in Washington.
The Department’s statement was denied in New York, however, by
E. C. Mills, of ASCAP ’s Administrative Committee, who said that
there had been no negotiations looking toward a decree.
Speaking at Frederick, Md. , which is almost a suburb of
the National Capital, where a group of famous composers went to
stage a musical festival in the home of Francis Scott Key, author
of the ''Star Spangled Banner”, John G-. Paine, General Manager of
ASCAP said that WFMD at Frederick is regarded by ASCAP as a typical
broadcasting station and in signing its contract to furnish the sta¬
tion with the music of the great and familiar composers, he declared,
"We feel we are honoring some 350 stations throughout the country,
and that the work of our composers is being played for the people
of Maryland and not at the whim if the chain operators in New York”.
Mr. Paine challenged the right of the networks to "boy-
cott us just because we have the temerity to say, 'If you want to
use our music you should share with us in the profits you make from
its use ' . ”
xxxxxxxxxx
Annoyance caused by his neighbors' radios "turned full
volume” is cited by a Piqua, Ohio, resident. Such things ere out¬
side the Federal Communications Commission's jurisdiction. Many
cities have anti-noise ordinances intended to meet this situation.
The Commission also advises it cannot accommodate a New
York listener who would compel the major networks to discontinue
identical programs.
XXXXXXXXXX
7
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12/13/40
R. WOOS BUSINESS IN SARNOFF LETTER
After confining business and industry to the dog-house
for some years, President Roosevelt assumed an entirely different
attitude in a message to the Economic Club of New York, assembled
last Monday night to discuss "National Unity for Defense".
The text of the President's message, sent from the
cruiser "Tuscaloosa" in the Caribbean, and addressed to David
Sarnoff, President of the Radio Corporation of America, who is also
President of the Economic Club, follows, in part:
"Dear David:
"I regret exceedingly that I cannot be with you on the occasion
of the one hundred and thirty- fourth dinner of the Economic Club
of New York and the first under your guidance as president. A
tremendous opportunity for useful service is yours.
"I know of no greater objective any organization can have than
the stated purpose of your club 'to aid in the creation and expres¬
sion of an enlightened public opinion on economic and social sub¬
jects. 1 I like particularly the inclusion of social subjects in
the discussion of economics. The two belong together. You and I
know that in order to maintain our American system of private initi¬
ative and private enterprise, it must function as a system that
will do the greatest good for the greatest number. It is only by
keeping our economy socially conscious that we can keep it free. . .
"There can be no real unity where the people have no voice. In
a democratic order, national unity is the voluntary expression of
the mind and spirit of a free people. Such unity gives our demo¬
cracy an un shake able strength.
"The freedoms that we must and will protect in the United States
are the freedoms which will make the individual paramount in a true
democracy. In our American way of life political and economic free¬
dom go hand in hand. Our freedoms must include freedom from want,
freedom from insecurity and freedom from fear. I firmly believe
that we can best secure these freedoms by government and private
enterprise working together for these common objectives. In this
Joint effort there must be provided proper reward for labor, proper
incentive for enterprise and a proper return on investment.
..
"Today the challenge which we as a democracy must meet is the
challenge to make the best possible use of our vast resources, and
to achieve speedily the common purpose of national defense and
national progress. It is a challenge to government, to labor, to
industry, and to capital alike. I have unbounded faith that we
shall succeed in this task. "
xxxxxxxxx
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12/13/40
NEW WASHINGTON RADIO STATION ON AIR
WINX, newest radio station in Washington, D. c. , was
officially tested last Tuesday evening hy the FCC. It is the
Capital’s fifth station, the others being WMAL and TOC, of the
National Broadcasting Company; WJSV, of the Columbia Broadcasting
System, and WOL, of the Mutual Broadcasting System.
An additional transmitter of WINX is located on the campus
of American University overlooking the city, while the main trans¬
mitter - a 180-foot tower - is at the studios and offices at Eighth
and I Streets, N.W. The 50- watt booster is synchronized to pick up
the main transmitter of 250 watts and to reamplify it, thus blanket¬
ing the District and its suburbs, a potential audience of more than
a million.
At his offices, Lawrence J. Heller, owner and operator of
WINX, was jubilant that his opening day would be the fateful
Friday, the thirteenth:
“The thirteenth has been a significant number in my
career”, he said. ”My law office is on Thirteenth Street; my radio
frequency is 1310; the FCC gave me my construction permit on
February 13. I'm therefore very optimistic about the future. "
Reggie Martin, formerly General Manager of WJNO, West
Palm Beach, holds the same post with WINX. His staff includes
Helen K. Mobberley, formerly with the NBC staff in Washington,
Commercial Manager; Robert Callahan, also formerly of the local
NBC, Musical Director; Ralph E. Cannon, designer, builder and
Chief Engineer of KFDA, Amarillo, Tex. , Chief Engineer; Pete
McEvoy, News Editor, and Jack B. Creamer, Continuity and Publicity
Director.
The Program Department includes Anson S. Carpenter,
production; Elain Shreve , traffic; Sam Lawder, Charles Murphy,
Leonard Meakin, Maj. Robb and Milton Shoemaker, announcers. The
engineering staff includes Ross Beville, Henry Meisinger, Blair
Jones and William Brubaker. In the Commercial Department are Ethel
Davis, C. Merritt Trott, Frances McKeown, Douglas Hall and Paul
Heller.
xxxxxxxx
It is reported by Leonard Lyons in the syndicated column,
HThe New Yorker” that "Senator Mead wants to recommend Louis Ruppel
for the commissionership in your Federal Communications Commission.
Ruppel, now publicity director for C.B.S., is rated one of the most
efficient men in radio. "
XXXXXXXX
- 9 -
RADIO LAWYERS PREPARE MAS GRIDIRON
The following notice in keeping with the holiday season
was served on members of the radio bar by Louis G-. Caldwell, noted
far and wide for his hospitality and wit:
Before the
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS BAR ASSOCIATION
A Quasi-Legal Tribunal
In the Matter )
of ) ORDER TO SHOW UP
Herbert M. Bingham, et Uxor)
NOTICE OF HEARING
Please take notice that on Sunday, December 22, 1940, at the
hour of 5 P.M. and thereafter until the game is called for darkness,
a hearing will be held at the home of the undersigned at 2900 Cleve¬
land Avenue, N. W. , Washington, D.C., for the following purposes:
1. To note the expiration of the terra of office of Philip
J. Hennessey, Jr. , Esq. , retiring president of the Federal
Communications Bar Association, and to deplore the fact
that, notwithstanding his campaign pledges, hearings
before the FCC have become even more rare than they were
before he took office;
2. To determine whether the recent election of Herbert M.
Bingham, Esq. to the presidency of said Association can
possibly contribute to improving the situation or other¬
wise meet the statutory requirement of public interest,
convenience or necessity,
and such other lawful purposes as the guests may deem meet, includ¬
ing discussion of the issues in an appropriate forum at the tea-
table and/or in the cocktail lounge.
You are hereby requested
a) to be present,
b) to file your appearance (R. S.V.P.) by addressing it to
the undersigned, and
c) entirely at your option, to accompany your appearance with
a brief statement of reasons in support of the position
you intend to take in oral argument.
This proceeding will be exempt from the requirements of the
Walter- Logan bill. Furthermore, anyone detecting any representative
of the Attorney General's Committee on Administrative Procedure mak¬
ing notes about members of the Association will please report to the
management. (Signed) LOUIS G. CALDWELL
(My commission expired three years ago)
2900 Cleveland Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D. C.
XXXXXXXX
10
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?
TRADE NOTES
Station WCAP at Asbury Park, N. J. , will remain silent on
Christmas Day.
Glenn W. Payne, veteran NBC commercial engineer, has been
appointed Budget Officer. Mr. Payne has been with NBC since the
company was formed.
A thirty-day tryout is now being made by the new 50 KW
festinghouse International Station recently moved from Pittsburgh
to Hull, Mass.
R. C. A. Communications, Inc., has been granted authority
by the Federal Communications Commission to communicate with the
Government of Greenland, Godhaven and Julianehaab, Greenland, for
a period not to exceed three months.
A new 250 watt daytime station on 680 kilocycles will be
built at Butler, Pa.
Station WINN, Louisville, Kentucky, is the latest affili¬
ate of the National Broadcasting Company.
The Federal Communications Commission has repealed exist¬
ing sections 8.22 and 8.23 of the Rules Governing Ship Services,
effective March 1, 1941, inasmuch as the definition of "ship ser¬
vice" which becomes effective on that date, will conflict with
existing sections 8.22 and 8.23 defining "public ship service" and
"private ship service" respectively.
The RCA Manufacturing Company will use radio and national
magazines to inform radio users of the necessity of having their
automatic push-button receivers readjusted next March, when all
frequencies above 730 kilocycles are to be re-allocated to conform
to the North American Regional Agreement.
The following applications of attorneys to practice before
the Federal Communications Commission have been approved:
William J. Anderson, Pittsburgh, Pa.; H. Lee Boatwright , Jr.
David W. Byron and Levi H. David, all of Washington, D. C. , and
Bernard A. Grossman and Joseph Trachtman, both of New York City.
XXXXXXXX
- 11 -
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12/13/40
T RAMI, ELL MAKES MANY CHANGES
Increased emphasis on the public service broadcasting
activities of the National Broadcasting Company was announced by
Niles Trammell, President, when general supervision of policies and
developments in this field was given to Dr. James Rowland Angell,
who now, in addition to his previous duties, becomes NBC Counsellor
for Public Service programs. Included in this category are all
talks, religious, educational, agricultural, and children’s pro¬
grams, as well as others of a public service character.
Mr. Trammell also announced a realignment in the artists
service work in which the NBC Artists Service was discontinued and
the NBC Concert Service formed. George Engles, Vice-President, was
placed in charge of the Concert Service, which will handle the
management, sale, and promotion of all artists appearing in the
concert and operatic fields. The radio talent section of the for¬
mer Artists Service was transferred to the Program Department of
the company.
Phillies Carlin was appointed to head the Red Network
as Program Manager, and William Hillpot was appointed Blue Network
Program Manager.
A new Program and Talent Sales Division of the Program
Department was created. Miss Bertha Brainard becomes Manager of
this new division. She will supervise all booking of artists for
radio, motion picture and personal appearances.
A Central Booking Office with Miss Helen Shervey as Man¬
ager will schedule all network and local programs under the direc¬
tion of the Red and Blue Program Managers. Charles A. Wall, of
the Treasurer’s office, has been appointed Business Manager of the
Program Department.
The New York Production Division has been expanded.
Wilfred Roberts continues as Manager.
A Music Division of the Program Department has also been
established with Samuel Chotzinoff, Director of Serious Music, as
Manager. The Musical Director, Dr. Frank Black, and Leo Spitalny,
contractor of the house orchestra, will report to Chotzinoff.
A Public Service Division of the Program Department has
been established with Walter Preston, Jr. This division will include
Womens and Children’s Activities, Religious Broadcasting and
Educational Broadcasting.
A Director of Talks is also established to coordinate with
the managers of the Red and Blue Networks all talk programs of the
government, those of controversial nature, political character and
forum discussions.
Daniel S. Tuthill, formerly Assistant Managing Director
of the Artists Service Department will be Assistant Manager of the
division, handling contracts and management. Douglas Me
becomes Assistant Manager in charge of sales.
xxxxxxxx
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Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
L'-oi'. . u£.rhri rfflENT
i^DECl3,940^
INDEX TO ISSUE OF DECEMBER 17, 1940
BBC Records An Actual Air Battle . 2
Leaves Newspaper Field For Radio . 4
Communications Defense Meeting Called For January . 5
Philips Only U. 3. Competitor In Panama . 6
Radio Editors’ Group To flake Awards . 6
Consent Decree May End ASCAP-NAB Dispute . 7
Navy Starts Drive For 5,000 Reserve Operators . 8
Radio Notables At Gridiron . 8
Trade Notes . 9
Fake "SOS" Was Only An Amateur's Show . 10
Supreme Court Refuses Record Broadcast Review . 11
Army Camp Bands Win Labor Approval . . . 11
Qualifications Necessary For FCC Legal Practitioner . 11
KGEI To Flash "Time" News To Far East . . . 12
Gen. Harbord Reminisces About The Philippines . 12
More Praise For Trouble Shooter McGrady . 12
No. 129C
December 17, 1940
BBC RECORDS AN ACTUAL AIR BATTLE
Part of the text of a radio record of an actual battle
put on the air by the British Broadcasting Corporation and trans¬
cribed by Princeton University’s Radio Listening Center, is repro¬
duced below. Dots denote editorial deletion or unintelligible words:
Announcer - Tonight for the first time we present a radio record of
an actual air battle in progress. Charles Gardner, the BBC air
observer, had the luck to be on a south coast trip with sound equip¬
ment when this battle began. He at once started reporting, and the
result is a feat of impromptu reporting unique in the history of the
war today. While Mr. Gardner describes the action, the sounds of
battle cut through his words; exploding bombs, anti-aircraft fire
and bursts from the fighter planes. If you listen carefully, you’ll
hear the sounds of close fighting in the air. There's a noise like
a kind of dit, dit, dit, that’s the Messerschmitt s and brrrrrrrrrt,
that’s the Spitfire guns. The shouting and cheering come from the
anti-aircraft gunners, who are standing just by our observer. This
is the first time since the war began that listeners have been able
to hear an air battle described while it was actually going on, and
by a man on the spot.
Charles Gardner - The Germans are dive-bombing a convoy out at sea.
There are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven dive-bombers,
Junkers 87's. There's one going down on its target now, but, but
he missed the ships. He hasn't hit a single ship. There are about
ten ships in the convoy, but he hasn't hit a single one (Shouts of
the gunners in the background; steady thud, thud, of the anti¬
aircraft guns). There, you can hear the anti-aircraft going at it
now. I can't see anything - no. We thought he got a German one...
...but now the British fighters are coming up.
Here they come’ They come in an absolute straight dive (the
Junkers, apparently) and you can see their bombs actually going like
anything now. (Steady crump, crump of British guns.) I’m looking
'round now; I can hear machine-gun fire but I can't see our Spit¬
fires. . . Oh, here’s one coming down now.' There's one coming down
in flames.' Somebody's hit a German and he’s coming down in a long
streak, coming down completely out of control, a long streak of
smoke. . . The pilot's bailed out by parachute.’ He ' s a Junkers 87.
He's going flat into the sea and there he goes.' Sma-a-a-a-sh.’
And there was a Junkers 87. There's only one man got out by
parachute and presumably a crew of one in it.
Now, then - oh, there's a terrific mixup over the Channel! It's
impossible to tell which are our machines and which are the Germans.
There's one definitely down in this battle and there's a fight go¬
ing - you can hear the little rattle of machine gun bullets (Sound
of heavy explosion. ) That was a bomb, as you may imagine. Here
2
12/17/40
comes this one Spitfire. (Rattle of machine-gun fire.) There's
another bomb dropping. Yes, dropped - it missed the convoy. You
know they haven't hit the convoy in all this.
The sky is absolutely peppered now with bursts of anti-air¬
craft fire and the sea is covered with smoke where the bombs have
burst. But as far as I can see, there's not one single ship hit and
there's definitely one German machine down. And I'm looking across
the sea now; I can see the little white dot of the parachute of the
German pilot as he's floating down towards the spot where his mach¬
ine crashed with such a big thump in the water about two minutes ago.
Now everything is peaceful for the moment. The Germans, who came
over in about 20 dive-bombers, delivered their attack on the convoy,
and I think they've made off as quickly as they came. The - I can
see one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
Germans tearing towards France . . .
Well, that was a really hot little engagement while it lasted -
no damage done except to the Germans, who lost one machine, and the
German pilot is still on the end of his parachute, though appreci¬
ably nearer the sea than he was. I can see no boat going out to
pick him up; so he'll probably have a long swim ashore . . .
Here's a Hurricane coming back to reload. The Hurricane seems
to be smoking. The Hurricane's on - no, I don' t think he's on fire.
I think he's just opening his throttle on full, low down . I guess
i that's oil. No, that Hurricane's all right. No, he had to dive
down low over the water for there were two or three machines after
him. And here he comes now, along the harbor. Here is the Hurri¬
cane returning from the fight coming straight over our heads. (Pro¬
longed roar of plane's motor as it passes.)
Announcer - Meanwhile, the Junkers finished their hit and run attack
and made off towards France. But the fighter escort stayed behind to
protect the bombers from our Spitfires and Hurricanes. Several
fights developed in various parts of the sky while other British
single seaters flew straight out after the bombers. While this was
happening, Charles Gardner continued his commentary.
1 1
Charles Gardner - There's another fight going on, well up now, I
s' pose about 20-25-30,000 feet above our heads, and we can't see a
thing of it. The anti-aircraft guns have just put out one, two,
three, four, five, six bursts, but I can't see the 'planes. (Steady
crump, crump of guns. ) There they go again.
IYes, there we just hit a Messerschmitt - oh, that was beauti¬
ful - he's coming down now and I think definitely that fellow's
conquered. Ah, yes, he's coming down, he's almost crashed - Oh,
he's coming down like a rocket now . . . Here he comes.' He's down
in a steep dive. We're looking for a parachute and - No.' the
pilot's not getting out of that one! He's being - followed down.
There are two more Messerschmitts up there; I think they're all
right. No, that man is finished. I think he's come down from
about ten thousand or twenty thousand feet to about two thousand
feet and he's going straight down. He's not stopping. I think
12/17/40
that'^ another German machine that's definitely put (out of action).
I don’t think we shall actually see him crash. (He's going into a
bank of clouds. He's smoking now, I can see smoke and although we
can't count him definitely . behind the hill, he looks
certainly out of control. (Anti-aircraft guns continue.)
Now there's another - another Messerschmitt. I don't know
whether he's down or whether he's trying to get out of the anti¬
aircraft which are giving him a very hard time. Now there's a
Spitfire - there are four fighters up there and I don't know -
there are one, two, three, five fighters fighting right over our
heads now, and here's one coming right down on the tail of what I
think is a Messerschmitt and, I think, a Spitfire right behind him.
Oh, damn.' They've turned away, I can't see them - I can't see -
I can't see.' (Two salvos from anti-aircraft batteries.)
Voice in Background - One crashing, sir.
Charles Gardner - One . . . crashing - no, I think he pulled out. . .
You can't watch these fights very closely, you just see the . . .
machines with the little burst of machine guns and by the time you
pick up the machines - Oh, There are one, two, three, six machines
wheeling and turning 'round - Hark at the machine guns going now -
There's one coming right down on the tail of another.' There they
go - they're being chased home and how they're being chased home.
There, look at them go.' (Gun crews cheer.) And there's a Spitfire
just behind. . . he'll get them - Ah - Yes! Oh, boy.' I've never
seen anything so good as this. Our air fighters have really got
these . Our maching is catching up with the Messerschmitt
now - it's catching it -. . . . You can't tell, but I think something's
definitely going to happen to that first Messerschmitt.
Announcer - That Messerschmitt fighter,
ed on the French coast.
it
was learned later,
c ra sh-
xxxxxxxxxxx
LEAVES NEWSPAPER FIELD FOR RADIO
John A. Kennedy, publisher of the Clarksburg (W. Va. ) .
Exponent , has announced his retirement from the newspaper field to
devote his time exclusively to the State radio network which he
heads as President and General Manager.
Mr. Kennedy said he had disposed of his interest in the
Clarksburg Publishing Company to the Virgil L. Highland estate.
The company publishes the morning Exponent , the Telegram, afternoon,
and the Sunday Exponent- Telegram . The West Virginia network oper¬
ates radio stations in Clarksburg, Charleston, Huntington and
Parkersburg.
XXXXXXXXX
4
12/17/40
COMMUNICATIONS DEFENSE MEETING CALLED FOR JANUARY
After an intensive organization period covering almost
two months, the first general meeting of the Defense Communications
Board will be held in Washington on Monday, January 6, 1941. The
chief function of this group is to coordinate the relationship of
all branches of communications to the National Defense, Jurisdic¬
tion of the Board, in addition to broadcasting, takes in commercial
radiotelephone, radiotelegraph as well as other telephone, tele¬
graph and cable facilities. No consideration is being given to radio
programs as the Board has no power of censorship.
The Chairman of the Board is James L. Fly, Chairman of
the Federal Communications Commission, and the members are Major
Gen. Joseph 0. Mauborgne, Chief Signal Officer of the Army; Rear
Admiral Leigh Noyes, Director of Naval Communications; Hon. Brecken-
ridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State in Charge of the Division
of International Communications; Secretary, Herbert E. Gaston,
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in Charge of the Coast Guard.
There is a Coordinating Committee composed of E. K. Jett,
Chief Engineer, Federal Communications Commission, as Chairman;
Francis C. de Wolf, State Department; Ma j . W. T. Guest, War Depart¬
ment and Commander J. F. Farley, Chief of Communications, U. S.
Coast Guard, Treasury Department.
There are eleven sub-committees, two of which deal with
broadcasting, one domestic, and the others international.
Because of the large number of representatives of the
industry, the hearings will be held in Room A, Interstate Commerce
Commission Building, where the larger radio meetings take place.
General policies and procedure will be discussed at the January
gathering and individual meetings of the various committees will
be held in the afternoon for the purpose of electing committee
chairmen and secretaries, and also to consider tentative agenda of
work.
None of these sessions will be open to the public,
admission being limited to members and their accredited representa¬
tives.
The Board also announced that the following companies have
been added to the membership of Committee II (Aviation Radio Commit¬
tee) to represent wire telegraph interests:
American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
Postal Telegraph, Inc.
Western Union Telegraph Co.
xxxxxxxxxx
5
12/17/40
PHILIPS ONLY U. S. COMPETITOR IN PANAMA
Owing to the small per capita radio population and the
increasingly favorable employment situation, Panama should afford
encouraging sales possibilities, Commercial Attache Ashley B.
lowell, of Panama, reports.
With the exception of a receding interest in Philips and
Telefunken sets, the Panama radio set market is dominated by United
States sets of several popular makes. Philips is believed to be
the only set now being offered in competition with United States
sets. Other communication equipment is almost exclusively from
the United States.
The weather being tropical the year round in Panama,
there are no special selling seasons except the stimulus that may
result from the introduction of new models. Also the Christmas
season usually occasions more activity. Competent trade authorit¬
ies estimate that there are about 12,000 receiving sets in use in
Panama and the Canal Zone, although statistical data on the sub¬
ject are not available. Some of the Canal Zone market is supplied
through the commissaries, while mail order houses also account for
some business.
XXXXXXXX
RADIO EDITORS * CROUP TO MAKE AWARDS
Radio Editors of America is a new organization set up as
a clearing house for information to aid newspaper radio editors
and to make annual awards of cash and plaques for radio authors,
artists, programs, etc. , in 20 different classifications. J. E.
(Dinty) Doyle, formerly Radio Editor of the New York Journal-
Amerlcan, is secretary of the group with offices at 509 Madison
Avenue, New York City. Philco has provided the money for the organ¬
ization as a "Foundation 11 but, according to Mr. Doyle, will have
nothing to do with either the administration of the organization
or any awards the radio editors make.
Awards are to be announced at the first annual dinner of
the group to be held at the Waldorf-Astoria, New York City, Feb. 15,
On the Organization Committee are Dorothy Doran, Akron
Beacon Journal; Ben Kaplan, Providence Journal- Bulletin; Mary
Little, Des Moines Register and Tribune; Robert Locke, Kansas City
Journal; Jack McManus, New York PM; Leo Miller, Bridgeport Herald;
Si Steinhauser, Pittsburgh Press; and Don Trantor, Buffalo Courier-
Exp re ss .
xxxxxxxxx
- 6 -
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12/17/40
CONSENT DECREE MAY END ASCAP-NAB DISPUTE
Negotiations between the Justice Department and the
American Society of Composers, reported in this column last week
to be underway, apparently have moved a step nearer an armistice.
They have reached a tentative agreement under which the anti-trust
prosecution of ASCAP will be dropped on condition that the Com¬
posers revise its music fee structure. The agreement will be
embodied in an application to the Federal Court of New York (South¬
ern District) for a consent decree dismissing the Government's six-
year old charges that ASCAP 1 s fee constitutes a monopoly.
The Justice Department said last Monday that the negotia¬
tions which represent a compromise between the Composers and the
Broadcasters provided that ASCAP would no longer receive payment
from programs not containing the Society's music and the networks
In turn would pay the Society fees on chain broadcasts instead of
apportioning the cost among the stations that carry the program.
The main argument of the Broadcasters has been that they want to
pay ASCAP only when they use its music, whereas ASCAP has been in¬
sisting that the networks should bear a part of the cost of all
music.
The statement of the Justice Department confirmed in part
the first four points of a program that was understood to be the
basis of a possible consent decree in settlement of the suit.
The Department refused to confirm or deny the specific
ten points in the program, which follow:
That ASCAP would discontinue blanket licensing of radio
stations for the use of its music; that payment to ASCAP would be
on a per program basis; that ASCAP would not seek any minimum guar¬
antee; that music would be cleared at its source; that there would
be no discrimination between stations; that composers and publish¬
ers would have an option on whether they wanted to vest their
catalogues in the Society; that the ASCAP Board would be reorgan¬
ized to provide for the election of new members; that the ASCAP
method of distributing fees received would be revised; that the
requirement that a new songwriter must have five songs published
before joining ASCAP would be eliminated, and that publishers would
pay ASCAP a regular fee for clearance of their catalogues.
XXXXXXXXX
A construction firm which would like to establish tempor¬
ary radio communication for one of its lighters is advised that thi
would constitute a "radio station licensed for ship service and
located on board a ship which is not permanently moored", the
Federal Communications Commission rules.
XXXXXXXX
- 7 -
12/17/40
NAVY STARTS DRIVE FOR 5,000 RESERVE OPERATORS
The Navy is seeking 5000 radio operators for the Naval
Communications Reserve and in this is turning to operators of
amateur radio stations.
The key station in the Navy program is NAA, which is the
Naval radio station at Arlington, Va. The program includes four
two-hour periods from 8 to 10 P.M. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays
and Fridays. During these periods officers of the Naval Reserve
on active duty in the Washington naval area man the Arlington sta¬
tion. The work was begun November 1 by Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes,
Director of Naval Communications, and since that time 334 amateur
stations have established communication with the Navy Department.
"The value of the plan is evident because of the shortage
of approximately 5,000 communication ratings in the enlisted per¬
sonnel of the Naval Reserve ", Admiral Noyes said. "The results
have been beyond expectation and their value is inestimable. "
At present there are about 1,000 officers and 5,000 en¬
listed men who have voluntarily joined the Naval Communications
Reserve. They are all amateurs who have signed up for service in
the communications am of the Naval Service.
XXXXXXXXX
RADIO NOTABLES AT GRIDIRON
Among the prominent men identified with the radio industry
who attended the famous Gridiron Dinner in Washington last Saturday
night were:
H. Leslie Atlass, Columbia Broadcasting System, Chicago,
Ill. ; Gene Buck, President, American Society of Composers, New York
City; Thomas Burke, Chief of the Division of International Communi¬
cations, State Department; Harry C. Butcher, Vice-President, Colum¬
bia Broadcasting System, Washington; Theodore Granik, American
Forum of the Air; Irving Herriot, counsel for the Zenith Radio Cor¬
poration, Chicago; Edward Klauber, Vice-President, Columbia Broad¬
casting System, New York City; Thomas P. Littlepage, radio counsel¬
lor, Washington; Eugene F. McDonald, Jr. , President, Zenith Radio
Corporation, Chicago; Frank E. Mullen, Vice-President and General
Manager, National Broadcasting Company, New York City; Hugh Robert¬
son, Treasurer, Zenith Radio Corporation, Chicago; Louis Ruppel, In
Charge of Press Relations, Columbia Broadcasting System, New York
City; David Sarnoff, President, Radio Corporation of America, New
York City; A. A. Schechter, In Charge of News Events Division,
National Broadcasting Company, New York City; Niles Trammell, Presi¬
dent, National Broadcasting Company, New York City; Frank W. Wozen-
craft, Assistant General Counsel, Radio Corporation of America,
New York City.
XXXXXXXX
12/17/40
TRADE NOTES
An increase to 10 KW hes been applied for by Station
KNOW of Austin, Texas, and 5 KW by WMIN , of St. Paul.
A stronger, lighter and more durable glass is being pro¬
duced by a factory in Toledo, Ohio, by the use of a "radio beam”
to control the degree of flow of the molten glass.
A charge was made by Irving Cesar, President of the Song
Writers1 Protective Association, that after a year's activity and
the investment of nearly $3,000,000, BMI, the music bureau set up
by the Broadcasters, has not turned out a single song hit.
Ezio Pinza, opera singer, instead of having guests regis¬
ter in a book, makes a recording of their voices.
Station KLRA at Little Rock, Ark. , now transmitting with
5 kilowatts seeks to join the 50 KW class according to an applica¬
tion received by the Federal Communications Commission.
Mnr
Much of the realism of RCA Fantasound, developed especial¬
ly for Walt Disney's "Fantasia1' after years of effort, may soon be
available to neighborhood houses as well as downtown theatres
through the medium of RCA Panoramic Sound.
At
it the request of Senator Tom Stewart, of Tennessee, the
letter addressed by President Roosevelt to David Sarnoff, President
of the Economic Club in New York, was reprinted in the Congre ssional
Record of December 12 — — ^
Articles in the Bell Laboratory Record for December are:
"Thermistors, Their Characteristics and Uses/1* by G. L. Pearson;
"Devices for Combining DB" Levels, K. G. Van Wynen; "Analysis of
Losses in Magnetic Cores", C. D. Owens; "'Information' in Less
Space", A. C. Gilmore; "Carrier and Pilot Supply for the J2 Carrier
System", L. R. Cox; "Metallic Bridges Between Contact Points";
"A Coupling Unit for Telephotograph Transmission", D. W. Grant; and
"Measuring the Air Flow of Small Fans".
The call letters KHA3B have been assigned the radio sta¬
tion in the private plane (non- scheduled aircraft) of Robert Taylor,
the movie star, operating from Culver City, Calif. The last three
letters - A SB - are the initials of the reel Taylor's real name,
Arlington Spangler Brough.
9
i
12/7/40
As a result of the increased recording activity in
Washington, due to national defense work and other programs pro¬
duced in connection with NBC's contract with the Federal Government,
the NBC Radio- Recording Division has established an office in the -
Capital in the Trans-Lux Building.
An application was filed last week with the Federal Com¬
munications Commission for a construction permit to build a new
100 station in Nashville. The station would be powered with 1,000
watts, and would broadcast on a frequency of 1,380 kilocycles, un¬
limited time. Officers of the comoany were James G. Stahlman,
Chairman of the Board; Silliman Evans, President; E. G. Stahlman, Jr.
Vice-President, and E. P. Charlet, Secretary-Treasurer. Messrs.
Stahlman and Evans, respectively, are Chairman and President of
the Nashville Banner and the Tennessean.
A firm which proposes to broadcast a telephone conversa¬
tion directly from the telephone lines is informed that the Federal
Communications Commission has promulgated no rules or regulations
with reference to programs of this nature. However, the tariffs
of the American Telephone and Telegraph Comoany on file with the
Commission prohibit the use of the company's regular teleohone lines
for the purpose described. It is further pointed out that Section
605 of the Communications Act provides privacy for wire and radio
communications.
Dr. Harry B. Summers, an instructor in the Department of
Public Speaking at Kansas State College since 1932, has been
appointed Program Director of the NBC Public Service Division. For
the past eight years, Dr. Summers has taught classes in radio broad¬
casting, program production and re search in fields related to broad¬
casting.
xxxxxxxxxx
FAKE "SOS" WAS ONLY AN AMATEUR'S SHOW
A fake "SOS" marine distress call has been traced by the
Federal Communications Commission field inspectors to a New England
amateur radio operator. Investigation developed that the signal
which caused useless concern and wasted valuable time was part of a
dramatic program reproduced by the amateur in question to give his
fellow hams "code practice". The Commission warns the amateur that
transmission of this danger signal is inappropriate for code prac¬
tice, or in any other situation when an actual emergency does not
exist .
On the other hand, the Commission has taken cognizance of
the valuable contribution by amateurs in providing emergency com¬
munication during the recent Texas flood, when regular wire facil¬
ities were temporarily disrupted.
XXXXXXXXX
- 10 -
.... ,
»*-
12/17/40
SUPREME COURT REFUSES RECORD BROADCAST REVIEW
The Radio Corporation of America and Paul Whiteman lost a
plea to continue control of recordings of his orchestra’s music
after sale to the public when the . Supreme Court declined to review
a decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Suit to enjoin
broadcasting of the records was asked by Mr. Whiteman and RCA in
the lower courts. They pointed out that the records bore notices
supposedly restricting them to non- commercial use in private homes.
A trial court agreed with this argument. Judge Vincent
Liebell held that Mr. Whiteman had a common-law property right to
control the use of his work. The Second Circuit Court, however,
decided that any common-law property rights ended with the sale of
the records.
The injunction was sought against Station W30 and Elgin,
Inc., a sponsor of a program.
A Rl
XXXXXXXXXX
ARMY CAMP BANDS WIN LABOR APPROVAL
The military training camp bands may now go on the air as
the result of an agreement reached in New York yesterday by James C.
Petrillo, President of the American Federation of Musicians, and
representatives of the three major broadcasting chains.
Mr. Petrillo explained that the problem arose when the
Federation was asked for "a blanket waiver” to cover any program of
any camp band at any time. He voiced the Union’s fear that such a
procedure might have dispensed with programs requiring the services
of studio musicians to a large extent. Mr. Petrillo asserted that
the Union had gladly granted individual waivers. _ _ _
xxxxxxxx
QUALIFICATIONS NECESSARY FOR FCC LEGAL PRACTITIONER
Numerous lawyers who would like to practice before the
Federal Communications Commission are informed:
"The Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure provide
that attorneys at law admitted to practice before any court of the
United States, the District of Columbia, or the highest court of
any State or Territory, upon application may be admitted to pract¬
ice before this agency. An attorney at law from any place other
than the District of Columbia may, in the discretion of the Commis¬
sion or the official presiding at any hearing, be admitted for a
particular case in which he may be employed. The rules of practice
and procedure and those pertaining to the various classes of radio
services are not made available for general distribution. Copies
may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, D. C. , at nominal cost.”
XXXXXXXXX
- 11 -
12/17/40
KG-EI TO FLASH "TIME" NEWS TO FAR EAST
Royal Arch Gunnison, well known American newsoaperman
each Friday morning at 4:30 o'clock, San Francisco time, will read
the latest issue of "Time" to listeners in faraway lands. When it
is 4:30 A.M. in San Francisco, it is 8:30 P.M. (the same day) in
Shanghai.
KGEI, General Electric operated, is the only American
broadcasting station which can be received regularly in the Orient.
The station broadcasts daily to Asia, the Antipodes and South
Africa; also to Mexico, Central and South America.
XXXXXXXX
GEN. HARBORD REMINISCES ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES
Gen. James G. Harbord, Chairman of the Radio Corporation
of America’s Board, contributed an article to the first issue of
the magazine "Philippines", published by the Philippine Resident
Commissioner to the United States. General Harbord at the age of
36 went to the Philippines as a Captain of U. S. Cavalry. He was
appointed Chief of Constabulary and later organized the More Con¬
stabulary in Zamboango and Sulu. He saw much fighting and berame
acquainted with a young lawyer named Manuel L. Quezon, then, running
for Governor of Tayobos and now President of the Philippine Common¬
wealth. General Harbord wrote of Quezon:
"This was the beginning of a friendship that has endured
for 35 years. Nothing in his distinguished career since then has
made me regret that I did everything consistent with my duty as a
Constabulary Officer to help him. "
XXXXXXXXXX
MORE PRAISE FOR TROUBLE SHOOTER McGRADY
Frederic William Wile wrote in the Washington Star last
week:
"Throughout national defense quarters liveliest satis¬
faction is expressed over appointment of Edward F. McGrady as Special
Labor Consultant to Secretary of War Stimson. The former Assistant
Secretary of Labor, now in charge of labor relations for the Radio
Corporation of America, will serve without pay. Probably no one in
the labor movement enjoys so widely the confidence alike of the
rival big union organizations, rank and file of workers, and higher
powers in the Government. "Ned" McGrady particularly knows his way
about Capitol Hill, because of long A. F. of L. legislative service.
"Author of the Toledo Peace Plan for averting industrial strife,
he is considered to be peculiarly the right man in the right place
at the War Department at this time, because danger of labor conflict
like the recent strike in the aircraft industry is regarded perhaps
the most menacing bottleneck in the whole defense picture. Mr.
McGrady long ago won his spurs in the field to which Secretary
Stimson has just called him, having served in a similar post under
World War Secretary Newton D. Baker. "
XXXXXXXXXX -12-
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET
WASHINGTON, D. C.
j _l-EeA*_ DEPARTMENT
I p e @ i y 1 1 in'
„ __ ‘ ' 'o/n isi' i
/ Si I."* ^ j
I
INDEX TO ISSUE OF DECEIVER 20 , 1940
FCG Advises Holding Off On G-reat Lakes Radio .
Discord Creeps Into Music War Christmas Peace Efforts
Proposed Rules For Airport Radio Installation .
Monopoly Brief Filing Extended To Jan. 2.... .
Broadcast Engineering Standards In Printed Form .
Aid For FM In Transition Period .
RMA Midwinter Chicago Membership Meeting .
$850,000 WMCA Sale Authorized .
Four New Stations Authorized . . .
Wartime Increases Canadian Radio Sales .
Trade Notes .
tr . Angell Analyzes Radio ‘ s Education Role .
RCA Device Calls One Car Only .
. 2
. 4
. 5
. 5
. 6
. 6
. 7
. 8
.8
. 9
10
11
12
i
No. 1291
FCC ADVISES HOLDING- OFF ON G-FEAT LAKES FtADIO
In submitting its report on the special study of radio
requirements for safety purposes for ships navigating the G-reat
Lakes and Inland Waters, the Federal Communications Commission
recommended that no legislation be enacted by Congress sending the
results of treaty negotiations with the Canadian Government now
being undertaken by the State Department.
The Communications Commission explained that Congress
undoubtedly expected that a treaty on this subject would be negoti¬
ated with Canada. The reports of the Congressional Committees on
the Bill which later became Public 97 (75th Congress) included the
observation that no drastic change in policy affecting radio on
ships on the Great Lakes should be undertaken without consultation
with Canada and expressed the hope and expectation that the State
Department would reach an agreement with the Canadian Government
for the utilization of radio as a safety factor for shipping on
the Great Lakes, so that the ships of both countries would be plac¬
ed on a basis of equality in this respect and would receive assist¬
ance from the ships of each other as on the high seas.
The Committee has made the situation known to the State
Department. That department will undertake the task of obtaining
the agreement of the Canadian Government to a meeting of representa¬
tives to formulate the terms of a treaty which can be presented to
the respective governments for ratification. The exact date for
such a meeting has not yet been decided upon but will be determined
in the near future.
As to the characteristics of the radio system to be em¬
ployed on the Great Lakes, it was determined that reliable and con¬
sistent radio-communication for safety purposes is necessary for a
distance of at least 50 miles over water as contrasted to the 200-
mile range required by statute on the high seas. With this in mind,
it is further concluded that either radio telegraphy or radiotele¬
phony may be selected as the uniform means of safety communication,
provided that the appropriate power is used commensurate with the
frequency chosen.
An extensive discussion is given in the report of the
technical and propagation characteristics of frequencies most suit¬
able for a radio safety service in this area. In discussing the
particular vessels which should be required by law to carry radio
apparatus, the Commission believes that the formula now used in
regard to vessels entering the high seas is suitable. In general,
this would mean that all cargo vessels over 1600 gross tons and all
passenger vessels carrying more than twelve passengers would be
required to be radio equipped when sailing the Great Lakes.
- 2 -
An examination of the evidence reveals:
That the present United States laws and treaties affect¬
ing the Great Lakes are inadequate to provide an appropriate and
uniform marine radio communication system for safety purposes.
That the present facilities and services of United States
ships on the Great Lakes do not fully satisfy the essential ele¬
ments of a marine radio communication system for safety purposes.
That the number of persons and ships and the amount and
value of property transported on the Lakes justifies the mandatory
installation and maintenance on board ship of a radio communication
system for safety purposes.
In addition, the Commission concludes:
That a reliable marine safety system must depend for
effectiveness upon ground wave transmissions.
That the single frequency for a marine safety service
must be selected from the vicinity of the following frequencies
listed in the order of their desirability on an engineering basis:
(a) 500 kilocycles; (b) 35,000 kilocycles;
(c) 1,650 Kilocycles (d) 2,182 kilocycles
That it is the responsibility of the Federal Government
to establish such additional coastal stations as may be needed to
provide adequate coverage on the safety frequency adopted.
That any vessel subject to the requirements unless ex¬
empted pursuant to related provisions of law, shall keep a radio
watch for safety purposes.
The following recommendations were made with respect to
the Inland Waters:
That appropriate legislation, as amended, (public No. 97,
75th Congress) with the major modifications itemized below be en¬
acted to require a reliable radio installation for safety purposes
on all ships navigating exclusively on bays and sounds of the United
States adjacent to the open sea:
(1) A radio installation need not be required on passen¬
ger vessels of less than 100 gross tons;
(2) The Commission be authorized to designate the normal
day and night communications range of the radio transmitter and
receiver to satisfy the particular requirements in the area of
operation of the vessel concerned;
(3) A complete separate emergency radio installation
need not be required:
(4) The required continuous watch may be maintained in
whole or in part by either a qualified operator or an approved
automatic receiving device on both passenger and cargo ships while
such ships are being navigated.
XXXXXXXX
3
12/20/40
I
//
DISCORD CREEPS INTO MUSIC WAR CHRISTMAS PEACE EFFORTS
Although the Department of Justice is believed to be mak¬
ing progress towards a consent decree settlement of the music war,
the principals continue to charge and countercharge over the heads
of the peace-makers. Gene Buck, President of the American Society
of Composers, declares that the signing of a consent decree would
not necessarily settle the matter of what fees are to be paid for
music used over the radio.
Neville Miller said that even in the event of a decree,
extensive and perhaps prolonged negotiations would be necessary "to
arrange the acceptance by ASCAP of an honest and reasonable con¬
tract. "
A late press bulletin of the National Association of
Broadcasters cites the following as the three major developments of
the week:
(1) Disaffection within the ASCAP membership has reached
the breaking point. Already there is talk of ASCAP splitting
up into three or more camps.
(2) According to reliable information, the Department
of Justice is determined to push through the government’s
monopoly case against ASCAP, either by a consent decree or
through open court action.
(3) The sensational success of BMI in gathering 240,000
titles available for stations in 1940, and in winning industry¬
wide support as reflected in its present membership level of
some 600 stations, has demonstrated that this industry has the
brains and the united determination to set up an independent
source of good music sufficient to free radio, forever, from
the shackles of music monopoly, and to establish the use of
music in a free, competitive open market in accord with Ameri¬
can traditions of business and fair play.1 . . . so-o-o-.’ The
1-2-3 of it all adds up to BMI - a three word title that has
ASCAP on the run - and broadcasters on the march’
A prominent broadcaster told this writer that the with¬
drawal of ASCAP music from sustaining programs hadn’t brought forth
a single complaint.
"Listeners apparently haven't noticed any difference", he
said. "Of course we can't play 'The Old Rugged Cross’ but tunes
of that sort you only play about once a year anyway. "
In the meantime, word comes tha.t because an orchestra in
a Binghamton, N.Y. night club played copyrighted music without pay¬
ing for the privilege, Judge Frederick H. Bryant awarded damages of
$500 in favor of the American Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers in federal Court in Utica. The suit against Edith
Kennedy, operator of the club, was uncontested, and the award was
the minimum requested, on the basis of $250 for each of two
alleged violations.
XXXXXXXXXX
4 -
12/20/40
PROPOSED RULES FOR AIRPORT RADIO INSTALLATION
The Federal Communications Commission has promulgated
proposed rules governing the use of ultra high frequencies in the
aviation service and invited comment thereon by Tuesday, January 31.
As these proposals include the stabilization of the avi¬
ation radio system on am amplitude modulation basis, the Commission
particularly desires comment as to the wisdom of this step, together
with views regarding the practicability of providing for FM (fre¬
quency modulation) in the aviation service.
Under the existing miles it was contemplated that airport
control stations would be provided with ultra high frequencies
beginning January 1. Protests have been received with respect to
this rule based on the grounds that at many locations it will be
unnecessary for some time to come for the airport control station
to install ultra high frequencies, due to the absence of aircraft
equipped for their reception. It is also pointed out that the
demands upon manufacturers for national defense have made it impos¬
sible in many cases to obtain equipment.
On November 15 Commission representatives met in informal
discussion with representatives of other Government departments,
the airlines, the private fliers, and the airports. The proposed
rules which provide for a progressive schedule of installation are
the result.
It is interesting to note that those who have witnessed
the demonstrations of ultra high frequency air-ground communication
are unanimous in the belief that these frequencies offer a solution
to many of the difficult problems of traffic control in the vicinity
of airports.
y
xxxxxxxx
MONOPOLY BRIEF FILING EXTENDED TO JAN. 2
The time for the filing of supplementary briefs in the
so-called Monopoly hearings, on whether or not regulations should
be enacted governing chain broadcasting, has been extended to
January 2nd. This is just a day ahead of the convening of the new
Congress to which this report is to be made. Already the Federal
Communications Commission has been severely criticized for its
tardiness in submitting the Monopoly Report and this being true,
it is assumed the Commission will lose no time submitting its con¬
clusions on the subject. One contention is that the Commission
has no commercial jurisdiction over the chains, and if this opinion
is upheld, it would have no power to act in the matter.
/
xxxxxxxxx
- 5 -
12/20/40
BROADCAST ENGINEERING STANDARDS IN PRINTED FORM
For the first time, the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion' s "Standards of Good Engineering Practice Concerning Standard
Broadcast Stations" are available in printed form. The Commission
is unable to make free distribution to other than broadcast licen- .
sees, but copies may be purchased from the Superintendent of Docu¬
ments, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. , at 30 cents
each.
The standards interpret and elaborate on the Rules and
Regulations, which form the basis of good engineering practice as
applied to broadcasting on the 550 to 1600 kilocycle band. First
made effective on August 1, 1939, these principles have been revis¬
ed to July 20, 1940, in the printed edition.
Such compilation is published for the convenience of those
interested in standard broadcast station operation. Familiarity
with the standards is essential in the construction and operation of
standard broadcast stations, to meet the requirements of technical
operation in the public interest along lines not specifically
enunciated in the regulations.
These standards represent the consensus of opinion of the
broadcast industry as expressed in conferences with radio engineers
and manufacturers, augmented by extensive field surveys conducted by
the Commission's field technicians.
It is not expected that material deviation will be made
from fundamental principles, since the standards are sufficiently
flexible to accommodate new developments and other progres
XXXXXXXXXX
AID FOR FM IN TRANSITION PERIOD
To assist FM during its transition from experimental to
a commercially recognized broadcast service, the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission has announced that it will authorized, on appropri¬
ate request, a 60-day extension of experimental licenses which are
due to expire January 1.
Under previous arrangement, all frequency modulation
experimental station licenses were to automatically expire on that
date. It is indicated, however, that more time is needed in which
to switch over from the experimental to the regular program phase
in this high frequency service.
At the same time, the Commission indicated that it will
deny requests of permittee's for temporary authority to broadcast
commercially unless it is shown that the permittee has complied
substantially with the terms of his permit. Special temporary
6
12/20/40
!
authority will, however, be granted for bona fide technical experi¬
mental work in connection with construction of FM stations.
Up to the present time, the Commission has granted a
total of 25 commercial FM licenses, and there are 33 experimental
FM licenses outstanding.
XXXXXXXXXX
RMA MIDWINTER CHICAGO MEMBERSHIP MEETING
There will be a Mget together” rally of the entire member¬
ship of the Radio Manufacturers’ Association in Chicago on Wednesday,
January 15, for a general survey of industry problems and projects
of the new year. There will be a luncheon, January 15, at the
Stevens Hotel, and eastern, as well as western, members are being
invited to attend. A special program is being arranged, and
addresses will be made by James S. Knowlson, President of RMA,
Chairman Baker of the National Television System Committee, who
will detail the status of television standardization nrior to the
NTSC conference with the FCC on January 27, and others.
A number of RMA committees and also its Board of Directors
and Executive Committee will hold meetings on January 15 at the
Stevens. Among group meetings already planned for the Chicago
sessions is a meeting of the Export Committee, of which Walter A.
Coogan is Chairman. Topics of special interest are being arranged
for this meeting, which will be attended by John H. Payne, Chief
of the Electrical Division, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce,
Washington.
There will be a meeting of the special RMA Committee on
Advertising, of which John S. Garceau of Fort Wayne, Indiana, is
Chairman, to continue its review of industry advertising and develop¬
ment of desirable advertising standards and practices.
Meetings also are being arranged of parts, accessories
and other committees, including the special Parts Warranty Committee,
of which Ben Abrams is Chairman, to consider maintenance by set
manufacturers of stocks of replacement parts.
XXXXXXXXX
Leonard Lyons in his column ’’The New Yorker” addressed the
following remarks to Broadcast Music, Inc.:
”BMI: Joe Meyers, who wrote, ’California, Here I Come’,
feels confident that ASCAP will win and that your songs will not
suffice for the listening public. 'After January 1', said Meyers,
’the radio audience will suffer from public domain poisoning.1”
XXXXXXXXXXXX
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12/20/40
$850,000 MCA SALE AUTHORIZED
The Federal Communications Commission has formally granted
consent to transfer control of the Knickerbocker Broadcasting Com¬
pany, of New York, licensee of Station MCA, from Donald J. Flamm,
well known New York broadcaster, to Edward J. Noble, former Assist¬
ant Secretary of Commerce, for the sum of $850,000. The figure had
previously been reported as $1,000,000.
No announcement of the sale has as yet been made by either
Mr. Flamm, or the new owner, Mr. Noble, but it has been reported
that the latter, who ran for U. S. Senator in Connecticut on the
Republican ticket and resigned his position at the Commerce Depart¬
ment to work for Wendell Willkie, will continue these interests.
Mr. Noble is a man of large financial interests and Chairman of
the "Life Savers Candy Corporation".
Mr. Flamm, who has built up WMCA to its present import¬
ance has given no indication of whether or not he will continue in
the broadcasting station. WMCA has Just erected a new transmitter
in the Jersey Meadows, said to be one of the most up-to-date broad¬
casting stations in the country.
xxxxxxxxxx
FOUR NEW STATIONS AUTHORIZED
Applications have been granted by the Federal Communica¬
tions Commission for the erection of four new broadcasting stations:
Albert Joseph Meyer, Powell, Wyoming, to operate on 1200 kc
with 250 watts night and day, unlimited time; C. T. Sherer Co., Inc.
Worcester, Mass., to operate on 1200 kc. , 250 watts, unlimited time,
with three 100 watt amplifier stations to be located near Auburn,
Whitinsville , and Marlborough, Mass.; R. G-. LeTourneau, Toccoa, Ga. ,
to operate on 1420 kc. , 250 watts, unlimited time; Oscar C. Hirsch,
Cairo, Ill., to operate on 1500 kc. , 250 watts, unlimited time.
An application for a new 250 watt station by the Worcester
Broadcasting Company, Worcester, Mass. , has been designated for a
hearing.
Stations granted power increases during the past week are:
WKBW, Buffalo Broadcasting Corp. , Buffalo, N.Y. , from
5 KW to 50 KW; KG-NC, Plains Radio Broadcasting Co., Amarillo, Tex.,
from 1 KW night, KW LS to 1 KW night, 5 KW da.y; WELI, City
Broadcasting Corp., New Haven, Conn., from 250 watts to 500 watts
and day power from 500 watts Lb to 1 KW; W1XER, Yankee Network, Inc. ,
Boston, Mass., to change frequency from 42,340 to 43,900 kilocycles,
increase power from 500 watts to 1 KW, emission from A3 to special
for FM, and change type of transmitter.
- 8 -
Among the stations applying for an increase are:
Designated for hearing: WAGA, Liberty Broadcasting Corp. ,
Atlanta, Ga. , to increase power from 1 KW day, 500 watts night to
1 KW night, 5 KW LS, change frequency from 1450 kc. to 590 kc. ;
WRDW, Augusta Broadcasting Co., Augusta, Ga. , increase power from
250 watts unlimited to 500 watts night, 1 KW LS (contingent on WAGA
changing to 590 kc), change frequency from 1500 kc. to 1450 kc.
WESX, North Shore Broadcasting Co., Salem, Mass., CP to make
changes in equipment and increase power from 100 watts to 250 watts
(1200 kc.); WHOM, New Jersey Broadcasting Corp., Jersey City, N.J.,
C.P. to install new transmitter and directional antenna for day and
night use, increase in power from 500 watts night, 1 KW day to
10 KW da.y and night, change frequency from 1450 to 1560 kc. and
move transmitter from Jersey City to New Town Creek, Long Island
City, N.Y. ; WMAS, WMAS, Inc., Springfield, Mass., C.P. to change
frequency from 1420 to 830 kc. , install new transmitter, install
directional antenna for day and. night use, move transmitter from
Springfield to West Springfield, Mass. , and increase power from
250 watts to 1 KW night, 5 KW da.y; WWSW, Walker & Downing Radio
Corp., Pittsburgh, Penna. , C.P. to install new transmitter, dir¬
ectional antenna da.y and night use, change frequency from 1500 to
940 kc. , increase power from 250 watts to 1 KW; 5 KW day; move
transmitter from Pittsburgh, Pa. , to l|r miles north of McKees
Rocks Boro, Stowe Township, Pa. , 1500 kc. ; WSIX, W3IX, Inc. , Nash¬
ville, Tenn. , C.P. to install new transmitter, directional antenna,
for night use, change in frequency from 1210 to 950 kc. , increase
power from 250 watts to 1 KW, 5 KW day; KALB, Alexandria Broadcast¬
ing Co., Inc., Alexandria, La., C.P. to change frequency from 1210
to 580 kc. , increase power from 250 watts to 1 KW, install new
transmitter. —
xxxxxxxxx
WARTIME INCREASES CANADIAN RADIO SALES
Radio manufacturers of Canada reoorted sales of 28,923
units in August, 1940, the latest month to be reported, as compared
with 27,706 in August, 1939, a wartime increase of 4.4 percent,
according to the U. S. Bureau of foreign and Domestic Commerce, bas¬
ed on figures of the Radio Manufacturers’ Association of Canada.
Total units sold for the first 8 months of 1940 were 182,219, com¬
pared with 130,726 units for the corresponding period of 1939, an
increase of 39.4 percent. Inventories at the end of August were
63 percent greater than those at the end of August 1939, with 130,-
630 and 79,681 units, respectively, in stock.
Of the total of 28,923 sets sold in August, 1940, 18,358
were electric; 8,490 battery; 842 portable; 421 phonograph combina¬
tions, and 812 automobile. Short-wave electric sets made up 64
percent of the electric units sold.
Classified by wave bands, 60 percent of the total electric
sets sold in the month of August include short wave, 26 percent
AC/DC, and 14 percent for standard broadcast frequencies. Battery
sets, according to this classification, showred that 77 percent of
purchases during August were standard broadcast frequencies and
23 percent short wave.
- 9 -
X X X X X X X X
12/20/40
: TRADE NOTES
The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce has issued
radio reports on the Canary Islands and Honduras.
The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Samuel H. Foolish .
trading as Arlington Sales Co., 210 West Eighth St., Kansas City,
Mo., to cease and desist from using lottery methods in the sale of
radios and other merchandise.
A new mercury- vapor rectifier, bearing the type number
GL-866A/866, has been added to the General Electric Comoany tube
line for amateur and commercial service.
A mobile station of the Radiomarine Corporation, W10XLZ,
aboard the Towboat ’’Chicago Bridge” has been granted authority to
communicate as an experimental ship station to investigate the pos¬
sibility of establishing a coastal harbor service on the Mississippi
River.
Max Abrams, Treasurer of the Emerson Radio and Phonograph
Company of New York, has announced that the annual employee bonus
would be divided this year in the amount of $50,000. Every office
and factory worker will share in the distribution.
Ser\
service Emblems are being awarded to three veteran R. C.A.
Communications' employees this month. Alanson W. Aird, Engineer-in-
Charge of the New Brunswick, N. J. transmitter station; Abraham
Deutsch, Manager of SK Office; and Benjamin Lee, Main Office Porter,
will each receive the golden rhomb which marks the completion of
twenty years' employment with RCAC.
One of Station WBZ's two new vertical antennas, which
tower 500 feet high, turns back radio waves headed oceanward, accord¬
ing to Westinghouse , and makes them join one-way radio traffic in¬
land.
Applications for the following attorneys to practice
before the Federal Communications Commission have been approved:
Roy Holfeinz, Houston, Tex.; Francis W. Rausch, West
Allis, Wis. ; Monroe Goldwater, New York, N. Y. ; Samuel R. Rosenbaum,
Philadelphia, Pa.; Milton Small, New York, N.Y. ; Jerome C. Strumpf,
New York, N. Y.
With the addition of five new stations - WNOE, New Orleans,
WMOB, Mobile, Ala., WHBB, Selma, Ala., WDEF, Chattanooga, Tenn. , and
WBIR, Knoxville, Tenn., and the full-time affiliation of WKW, St.
Louis on New Year's Day, the Mutual Broadcasting System estimates
that more than 1,500,000 listeners in six cities will hear complete
Mutual network service for the first time beginning January 1, 1941.
You're wrong? It isn't Commissioner Tunis Algiers Morocco
Craven. The correct name is Tunis Augustus Macdonough Craven.
- 10 -
XXXXXXXXX
12/20/40
ANGELL ANALYZES RADIO'S EDUCATION ROLE
1
To enable listeners to become acquainted with NBC's poli¬
cies and procedures in connection with its Public Service programming
it offers a booklet entitled "NBC Interprets Public Service in Radio
Broadcasting", covering present activities and plans for future
development of the Public Service Program Division of NBC. The
report summarizes policies and program plans which have been recom¬
mended by Dr. James Rowland Angell, NBC Educational Counselor and
officially approved by the management of NBC.
In 1937, NBC approached Dr. Angell, who ms to retire that
year as President of Yale University, with the suggestion that he
become its Educational Counselor. The Management of the Company
desired Dr. Angell to study the relationship between radio and edu¬
cation in an effort to work out a satisfactory solution to this
problem. Dr. Angell accepted NBC ' s offer and spent the greater
portion of his first year making a thorough study of foreign and
American systems of broadcasting, with particular reference to the
activity of various systems in educational broadcasting.
As a result of this study, Dr. Angell became convinced
that to find a solution to the problem of radio and education in
the U.5. the following four elements must always be considered:
(1) Networks can only do a shot-gun job rather than a
single rifle shot job. With a few exceptions they should not try
to do direct teaching. Their programs should be supplements to the
teacher and the textbook, bringing to the classroom material which
otherwise could not be provided. This is because of the four time
belt stagger across the country, because of the forty-eight differ¬
ent State systems of education, the dozens of systems of education
within each state.
(2) The local commercial stations can do a more direct
educational job than the networks but still they cannot do a wholly
direct teaching job.
(3) Electrical recordings of network programs already
broadcast and programs especially recorded but not broadcast should
be made available to schools, local stations and all others inter¬
ested. This would provide material for use by all concerned which
might not be secured in any other way.
(4) The ultra-high frequency wave lengths which the
Federal Government has allocated to educational institutions is one
of the most important elements in the entire picture. The Cleveland
School System has been experimenting with this technique for several
years; New York City, Los Angeles, and other school systems are
under way with their experiments. The local school systems thus
provided with their own broadcasting and receiving equipment can do
direct teaching and can make use of network programs - of programs
produced by the local commercial station - and of electrical
recordings provided by the radio industry.
Dr. Angell suggested that NBC re-define its terms and
that the word "education" be limited strictly to those programs
which are a supplement to the teacher and the textbook.
11
12/20/40
Having limited our use of the term "education", the prob¬
lem was then to provide a new term for the programs which had been
included formerly in the educational category. Dr. Angell and the
Management worked out the following definition of tyres of programs
broadcast on NBC's Red and Blue Networks:
Percentage of Total
Network Broadcast
Hours
1. Commercial Programs . 30 $
2. Sustaining Programs . 70$
a. Straight Entertainment . 15$
b. Public Service . 55$
(Women's, Children's, News, Special
Events, Religion, Politics, Cul¬
tural Drama, Serious Music, Educa¬
tion, International Short Wave, etc.)
Dr. Angell concludes that the public wants to be educated
but it wants its education "sugar-coated". We believe it is our
responsibility to provide public service programs of the highest
quality and with a satisfactory degree of entertainment in them.
RCA DEVICE CALLS ONE CAR ONLY
A new control device for mobile radio systems, by means
of which any one car or group of cars can be called without dis¬
turbing the other receivers in the same system, has been developed
by the Emergency Communication Section of the RCA Manufacturing
Company and was shown at the Seventh Annual Conference of the
Associated Police Communication Officers, at Orlando, Fla. Known
as the RCA Selective Calling Equipment, it may be applied to any
new or existing radio system.
Heretofore, all workmen in the field have found it neces¬
sary to stop work and return to their cars during radio transmis¬
sion to ascertain for whom the message was intended. Now it is
possible to call the one receiver or selected group of receivers
desired. All other receivers remain inoperative while the crews
of those cars remain on active duty. It is ideally suited for use
by utility companies with fleets of radio equipped service and
maintenance cars.
XXXXXXXX
12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
INDEX TO ISSUE OF DECEMBER 24, 1940
Amy Can’t Even Toot Horn On Radio, Solon Protests . 2
All Set For Television Reports Latter Part Of January . 4
FCC Nabs Racing Tip Crooner . 5
Colleges Offer Free Communications Defense Course . 6
New Washington Station Victor . 7
New York Policemen Test Individual 2- Way Sets . ....7
Caldwell Facetiously Fetes FCC Bar Group . 8
Supreme Court To Review 2nd ASCAP Case . 9
Hickok Joins National Defense Council . 11
Taxes Foreshadow 1940 Radio Record . 11
New Long Lines Head Of A. T. & T . 12
Compensation For Drafted Or Enlisted WOR Employees . 12
No. 1292
December 24, 1940
ARMY CAN'T EVEN TOOT HORN ON RADIO SOLON PROTESTS
Declaring that first the Navy and then the Army was told
where to head in by organized labor, Representative Clare E. Hoffman,
Republican, of Michigan, took the floor for an attack on these
groups. Mr. Hoffman, who is a member of the House Labor Committee
said, in part:
"Some will recall that, in the late summer of 1939, more
than a year ago, a C.I.O. affiliate in Detroit, according to the
then Acting Secretary of the Navy, held up preparations for national
defense and told the Navy where it should head in. That union de¬
fied the Navy to ’come and get1 its own materials. The Navy took
it lying down for 41 days.
"It is the Army's turn now. One Petrillo, President of
the A. F. of L. American Federation of Musicians, denied the Mutual
Broadcasting System the right to transmit music played by the One
Hundred and Fourth Engineers Band at Fort Dix.
"A series of oatriotic concerts at Fort Dix had been plan¬
ned to promote interest in the national defense. But, under the
orders as issued by Petrillo, citizens will not have the privilege
of sitting by their firesides and listening to the Army bands play
the Star-Spangled Banner, America, or any other patriotic selec¬
tions, as transmitted over the radio.
"According to the press:
"'Petrillo announced that radio listeners would have to
get along without broadcasts by Army bands from Army posts until he
had an opportunity to go to Washington, D. C-, and make a deal with
the War Department on the extent to which such broadcasts could be
given. '
"'This is a good cause and we're all for it', Petrillo
declared, 'but if we allowed radio stations to put music on the air
from Army camps whenever they wanted to they could soon dispense
with our men. We are in favor of their going on the air with pro¬
grams telling about life in the Army, but we want protection against
the loss of jobs for professional musicians.
"'I can't let them run wild. There's no telling where
this thing might end. It's all right with us if they put on a
couple of Army bands, but I want to know how often they plan to do
this thing. '
- 2 -
12/24/40
"Many people have assumed that Army bands could play when
and where the Army desired. Some of our citizens are so naive as
to have believed that broadcasting was under the jurisdiction of
the Federal Communications Commission. Now we learn that the ‘big
boss' is, or at least so he thinks, Mr. Petrillo, who was recently
given great praise in a nationally circulated monthly magazine.
"It might be well for the Government to adopt the langu¬
age of Mr. Petrillo with reference to the activities of some of
these gentlemen. He said:
I can't let them run wild. There is no telling where
this thing might end. '
"How would it be for the Army and the Navy to get together
with the Federal Communications Commission and tell Mr. Petrillo to
toot his own horn, at least Insofar as the Army and Navy bands were
concerned?
"Suppose, as in the olden days, the Army depended on bugle
calls; that a war was on and that a charge or a retreat was to be
ordered, the orders transmitted through the bugle. Would the Army
officer be able to give the order without first seeing Mr. Petrillo?
And what a mess we would be in, if Mr. Petrillo or his business
agent did not happen to be on the field of battle. There the Army
would be, all tied up, the commanding officer unable to tell it
whether to go forward or backward until he had heard from Mr.
Petrillo.
"Captain Cook, public- relations officer of the Forty-
fourth Division, had asked permission to play a brief selection at
the opening of the program, a full number at the middle, and a mili¬
tary theme at the end. Petrillo would not permit that. So the
captain said that bugle calls would replace the band music. He
added that Petrillo had granted a request for 1 minute of incidental
music by a regimental band on another program last Thursday.
"There is one thing that the unions seem to have overlook¬
ed. A man can still be conscripted without joining and paying an
initiation fee. "
According to a newspaper dispatch from Chicago the Anti-
Trust Division of the Justice Division is making a quiet investiga¬
tion of Mr. Petrillo.
"This matter is not calculated to make much difference
to Petrillo, the world's highest-paid labor leader. (His $46,000
a year tops the combined salaries of John L. Lewis and William
Green, ) " the dispatch said.
The interest of Thurman Arnold, head of the Anti-Trust
Division, in Mr. Petrillo, it was learned, stemmed from the current
conflict between the broadcasting chains and the American Society
of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
- .3
12/24/40
Officially, the musicians union has taken a hands-off
attitude in the radio-music writers battle. Nevertheless, the
traditional position of Jimmy Petrillo as the focal point of all
conflicts over music brought the Justice Department in for a look
at the unions' influence.
Mr. Petrillo said the radio networks had promised that no
studio musician would suffer as a result of the Army concerts.
"The federation never denied the Army the right to do
their stuff, but these Fort Dix people wanted a blanket waiver for
all broadcasts and then on Friday came 24 requests, from the net¬
works, to use Army bands, and I said, 'Gee.1 Let's keep this thing
in status quo till we find out where we're at. 1 So I got in touch
with people. We’re patriotic enough to know these things should go
on. "
XXXXXXXXX
ALL SET FOR TELEVISION REPORTS LATTER PART OF JANUARY
Television will again get the spotlight the last week in
January when reports of the National Television Systems Committee
to the Federal Communications Commission are due. They will be
filed just prior to Monday, January 27th, at which a general con¬
ference is to be held on television in Washington. Following the
conference it is expected the red light which was flashed against
the television industry may be switched to green or amber at least.
Nine panels, or committees of the industry will report and
even at this late date there may be considerable difference of
opinion.
Prior to the Washington conference the Communications
Commission Friday, January 24, will make an Inspection trip to New
York and several other cities so as to have up to the minute informa
tion as to what the television laboratories have develooed and to
see any actual televising that is being done at that time.
XXXXXXXXX
A blackout resulting from trouble at an auxiliary station
on the Susquehanna at Safe Harbor, Pa. , cut off power from the radio
stations in Washington and Baltimore and everything else using
electricity last Saturday. An investigation immediately followed
to see if sabotage had entered into it.
XXXXXXXXXX
4
12/24/40
FCC NABS RACING- TIP CROONER
A month's search by the Federal Communications Commission
for unlicensed radio equipment which broadcast "sure tips" to favor¬
ed bettors while horse races were still being run was climaxed last
night by the arrest of two men and the seizure of illegal apparatus
at the Charles Town, W. Va. , racetrack.
In early December Commission field men discovered that
two portable transmitters were surreptitiously being put to such use.
One transmitter concealed under the coat was employed by one of the
men in the grandstand to communicate progress of the race to an
accomplice in a rented tourist cabin near the track. The latter
utilized the second set to flash the expected result to conspira¬
tors listening in at outside receiving stations. Under this system,
some persons were able to make advantageous bets before the results
of the race were generally known.
The method of operation, as determined by Commission
inspectors listening in, was this:
At the start of the race a person could be heard whistl¬
ing on a certain radio frequency, followed by the words "Oh Johnny"
repeated several times, and then a few bars from such songs as
"Beer Barrel Polka" or "Maryland, My Maryland" would be sung. As
the race neared the finish the voice would suddenly cut in with a
number, repeated until the race was completed. Immediately after
this number was spoken, a stronger signal on another frequency was
observed to repeat the same number perhaps 10 or 15 times, followed
by such commonplace expressions as "testing" or "testing for modula¬
tion", and finally the words, "that is all". On checking the race
results it was obvious that the number in question referred to the
number of the winning horse.
By the use of highly specialized equipment and technique,
the party in the grandstand operating the transmitter concealed on
his person was finally located. This transmitter was adjusted to
an ultra-high frequency and the microphone extended down into the
sleeve of the overcoat worn by the operator. To speak into the
microphone, he merely raised his hand to the back of his neck and
appeared to be conversing with his look-out companion, or shouting
for his favorite horse to win. To allay suspicion, he carried a
program and consulted it between races.
The grandstand tip-off man had a clear view of the tour¬
ist camp in which the high-powered transmitter was located, and
received acknowledgments of the reception of his transmission by
light signals flashed by the operator at the tourist cabin. On
one occasion, the operator in the grandstand remarked on the air
that a clothesline obstructed his view of the light. This announce¬
ment enabled the inspectors to verify the exact cabin in the group
where the presence of the high-powered radio transmitter had been
previously located by a radio direction finder, even though the
12/24/40
antenna was concealed. This transmitter was built into a trunk
and when the lid was closed gave no semblance of a radio apparatus.
Arrests were made in cooperation with the West Virginia
State Police and United States District Commissioner at Martinsburg,
after evidence had been presented by members of the Commission's
field operations section personnel - Charles Ellert, Supervisor
of the Central Atlantic Monitoring Area; Assistant Monitoring Offi¬
cer Earl M. Johnson, and Radio Operator Kenneth B. Menear.
XXX XXXXXX
GES OFFER FREE COMMUNICATIONS DEFENSE COURSE
Four colleges are announcing free communications or radio
classes as a part of the 250 short, intensive training courses
designed to meet the shortage of engineers for service as design¬
ers, inspectors, and supervisors with the industries and G-overnment
agencies engaged in the National Defense program.
The all-clear signal for these announcements was given
when J ohn W. Studebaker, U. S. Commissioner of Education, reported
formal approval of the proposals submitted by these institutions
to Federal Security Administrator Paul V. McNutt.
George Washington University in Washington, D. C. , will
give a radio communications course; Tufts College, Medford, Conn. ,
radio engineering; Duke University, Durham, N. C. , Communication
engineering, and the University of Puerto Rico, communication
engineering.
Prospective students must satisfy the engineering school
giving the instruction that they have the requisite technical train¬
ing and experience to understand the subject and that they are
employable in defense work. Applicants will be considered by the
schools individually. Those accepted will have their tuition costs
paid by the Federal Government. Congress recently appropriated
$9,000,000 to be administered by the U. S. Office of Education, for
this purpose.
Director of the Engineering Defense Training program in
the U. S. Office of Education is Roy A. Seaton, Dean of the Division
of Engineering at Kansas State College since 1920. Assisting him
are an advisory committee of eleven nationally known engineering
educators headed by A. A. Potter, Dean of the Purdue University
School of Engineering. Twenty-two non-salaried regional advisers,
working with defense industries and engineering schools, also are
assisting. Dean Seaton said that a total enrollment of about
25,000 persons is expected in the Engineering Defense Training
courses.
XXXXXXXXX
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/
NEW WASHINGTON STATION VICTOR
WINX, Washington, D. C. ’ s newest station, won a court
battle last week when U. S. District Court Justice Bolitha J. Laws
dismissed a suit challenging the validity of the sale of the build¬
ing where the radio station is located.
Had the jurist handed down a contrary decision, WINX
possibly could have faced the loss of its headquarters if the new
owner of the structure objected to the presence of a broadcasting
studio .
Harry Sherr, of Orbinsonta, Pa. , who owned a $20,000
second trust upon the building, asked the court last September to
enjoin a projected improvement of the building, in addition to
setting aside its sale.
On advice of his attorneys, Alvin Newmyer and David Bress
Lawrence Heller, WINX owner and operator, went ahead with his plans
in face of the suit. Justice Laws’ ruling also disposed of the
injunction request.
Located on the northeast corner of Eighth and I Sts. ,N.E.
the building was purchased in a foreclosure sale August 16 for
$35,000 from the Faultless Hosiery Company, by Mrs. Laverne Kip-
linger, of Bethesda, Md. Mr. Heller has leased it from her. The
sale price covered only the first trust and Sherr realized nothing
on it.
Sherr claimed the sale was not properly conducted because
it did not bring enough money and he was not notified of the exact
date on which it was held.
XXXXXXXXX
NEW YORK POLICEMEN TEST INDIVIDUAL 2- WAY SETS
New York City is testing a ten-pound two-way radio set
by which foot patrolmen may keep in touch with each other.
Patrolman William Proctor demonstrated the set in Mayor
La Guardia’s office in the City Hall, wearing a brown canvas vest
containing battery pockets over his shoulders. The radio trans¬
mitter hung over his chest and the receiving microphone was worn on
his wrist like a wrist watch. At the Mayor’ s direction Patrolman
Proctor got into communication with Patrolman Herbert Dennet in
City Hall Park and had the outside man report his position. Dennet
later spoke to Radio Car 10, four blocks away from City Hall, and
wound up by getting the exact time from Police Headquarters.
The units now have an effective radius of only 1,000 ft.
but that limitation can be expanded through relay systems. G. S.
Morris, Superintendent of Police Telegraph, said the radio would
be valuable on dangerous arrests, since one policeman inside a
building could coordinate and direct the work of all the men out¬
side. The device can be worn either under or outside a regula¬
tion police uniform. Its cost is now $165.
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12/24/40
CALDWELL FACETIOUSLY FETES FCC BAR GROUP
One of the merriest holiday parties in Washington was the
annual cocktail party given by Louis G. Caldwell to the incoming and
outgoing presidents and their wives of the Federal Communications
Bar Association. On this occasion the honor guests were Mr. and
Mrs. Herbert M. Bingham and Mr. and Mrs. Philip J. Hennessey, Jr.
There was a cleverly done Gridiron Club twist to the party
with good-natured gibes at the Federal Communications Commissioners
and others in which even the lawyers themselves were not spared.
One way of carrying this out was by means of signs in different
parts of the house, such as ‘’Television Just Around the Corner”.
Around the corner one found himself in the room where the drinks
were being served.
In the midst of the festivities guests were surprised to
hear Mr. Bingham's life history coming over the radio. In reality,
the program was a transcription, gotten together for Mr. Caldwell
by Station WOL. Art Brown of the station was on hand to lead the
singing of a special song "Hail to Bingham”, which took place in
Mr. Bingham's honor. It follows in part:
Forty winters ago, not a prophet did know
Who tonight's chief Exhibit would be,
But a far-sighted stork took a flight o'er New York
And he lit on the Bing family tree.
Herb has travelled since then, Culver, Stanford and Penn,
It is now Doctor Bing we salute.'
Having wandered like Wendell, he settled to law,
And did rural service at Butte.
When we picked Hennessey, sure we though we’d be free
From Depression with him in the chair,
But the darn Irish bloke, every pledge he has broke,
And the hearings grow ever more rare.
When he failed to appease the procedural squeeze
(It attenuates fees, say the boys)
They all voted in block for the New Dealer Doc,
Who's full of electrical noise.
Chorus
Now the bench and bar come from near and far
To honor Herb the Bing;
With three hundred strong, they can't all go wrong
With a vagabond for king.
Svelte and debonair, with a social flair
Which no one can dispute,
Who'll serenade this Great Crusade,
It's Herb the Bing from Butte.
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12/24/40
About 150 attended the party, including Commissioners
and high officials of the FCC. Also others of prominence, such as:
Mrs. Burton K. Wheeler, wife of the Senator from Montana; Justice
and Mrs. Lawrence G-roner, Justice and Mrs. Justin Miller, Justice
and Mrs. Harold Stephens, Justice and Mrs. Wiley Rutledge and
Justice and Mrs. Fred M. Vinson.
Also Commissioners Charles H. March and William S.
Culbertson of the Federal Trade Commission; Robert Fleming, Presi¬
dent of the Riggs Bank, and Mrs. Fleming, Mark Foote, past President
of the (Gridiron Club, and Mrs. Foote, and Francis W. Hill, Jr.,
President of the District Bar Association, and Mrs. Hill.
xxxxxxxx
SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW 2ND ASCAP CASE
With the zero hour of the Composers-Broadcasters music
battle only a week away, the U. S. Supreme Court just before recess¬
ing for the holidays agreed to review a decision holding invalid a
1937 Florida law directed at monopolistic practices of music copy¬
right owners and parts of a 1939 statute regulating licensing of
public performance rights.
Florida appealed from a decision of the Northern Florida
Federal District Court, seeking to establish validity of both
statutes, while the American Society of Composers, Authors and Pub¬
lishers, known as ASCAP, appealed from the same decision insofar as
it held valid some portions of the 1939 statute.
The high court recently agreed to review a Nebraska deci¬
sion holding invalid a State anti-monopoly law which permitted the
public performance of music whenever the original purchase price
had been paid.
The litigation was another phase of the effort of ASCAP
to control prices charged for the public playing of popular music
under its control. A three-judge Federal court in Nebraska held
that the legislation violated the Federal copyright laws.
The Florida statute the Supreme Court promised to review
was passed by the Legislature last year, after 1937 law met dis¬
aster in the courts. In April, 1939, the Supreme Court affirmed
an order of the Northern Florida Federal District Court granting
a temporary injunction against the 1937 law. Later the 1939 statute
was passed. It also was designed to stop monopolies by ASCAP but
was remodelled to suit court objections.
In the meantime the Department of Justice was evidently
making the utmost effort to conclude negotiations in the consent
decree proposed for ASCAP, Unconfirmed reports were to the effect
that there was a hitch in the proceedings but the hone was express¬
ed that the decree might be presented before January 1st when the
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A3CAP contracts expire. Even after a consent decree there might
follow much litigation but it is believed this would prevent a
break and actual hostilities.
Pending this the NBC last Sunday eliminated on most of
its commercial programs all music controlled by the Composers, the
company's action coming a day earlier than had been announced pre¬
viously. Only three or four commercial sponsors are expected to
use the Society's music this week on the company's Red and Blue
Networks, it was said, but they will drop it before January 1, when
the present contract between the broadcasters and the Society
e xp i re s .
The Columbia Broadcasting System intends to weed out
A5CAP music on commercial programs beginning Thursday, the belief,
as stated above, was increasingly voiced in both radio and music
circles that some sort of a truce in the music row would be forth¬
coming prior to January 1, probably this week. The belief was
predicated on the theory that ASCAP would agree to a consent decree
in the anti-trust action brought against it by the Department of
Justice. Besides the amount of money to be paid for music heard
on the air, it was reported that the question of signing a contract
with an organization accused of being a monopoly has accounted in
part for the refusal of the broadcasters to negotiate with the
Society. ..
XXXXXXXXXX
NOTES
All America Cables and Radio, Inc. reoorts that through
cable service from Nei^ York to the Island of Martinique has been
restored. It was interrupted on July 21 and since that time com¬
munication service with Martinique has been maintained by radio¬
telegraph.
The Radio Manufacturers' Association has launched its
plan to survey industry advertising on a voluntary cooperative
basis. Initial steps toward establishment of desirable and techni¬
cally correct advertising standards and practices were taken up at
the first meeting of the new Committee on Advertising held in New
York City. Current industry advertising was surveyed and procedure
begun to have the Association recommend voluntary advertising stand¬
ards, similar to the recommended RMA engineering standards, in the
interest of the buying public and the trade, as well as manufactur¬
ers, and to avoid possible criticism from the public, Better Busi¬
ness Bureaus or Government agencies.
NOTE - DUE TO THE GOVERNMENT TWO- DAY HOLIDAY, THERE
WILL BE NO ISSUE OF THIS SERVICE ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1940.
xxxxxxxx
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/
HIGKOK JOINS NATIONAL DEFENSE COUNCIL
Guy C. Hickok, for the past three and a half years,
Director of Short Wave Broadcasting of the International Division
of the National Broadcasting Company, has joined the Council of
National Defense for the Coordination of Commercial and Cultural
Relations Between the American Reouhlics. John F. Royal, NBC
Vice-President in Charge of Foreign Relations, in announcing
Hickok1 s new affiliation, said he did so with reluctance at the
insistence of Don Francisco, head of the Radio Division of the
Committee of Communications.
Under Mr. Hickok1 s direction, the program service of the
International Division won wide acclaim abroad and the mail res-
ponce from listeners in foreign countries jumped from some 400
"letters a month to over 4000 a month. Mr. Hickok will be assistant
to Don Francisco. Mr. Francisco is at present on a three month
trip to South America. Mr. Hickok returned recently from an in¬
spection tour of the principal Latin American countries.
One of the major duties of the Radio Committee will be
the coordination of American short-wave service to Latin America
and the promotion of American programs throughout South America.
xxxxxxxx
TAXES FORESHADOW 1940 RADIO RECORD
Collections of radio excise taxes last November showed an
increase of 37 percent over radio taxes in November, 1939, and in¬
sured an all-time high record in the final 1940 radio collections.
November radio taxes amounted to $791,483.01, compared with collec¬
tions last October of $703,304.20 and with $577,776.05 in November,
1939. Refrigerator tsx collections last November declined, amount¬
ing to $302,618.83, against $400,205.55 in November, 1939.
Compilations of Revenue Bureau statistics made by the
Radio Manufacturers’ Association, presaged total radio tax collec¬
tions in 1940 of over $6,750,000, which would be an all-time yearly
record since the inauguration of the 5 percent radio tax in June,
1932. Radio taxes already collected, for the eleven months ending
November 30 this year, were far beyond the total 1939 radio collec¬
tions, due in part to the increased rate, from 5 percent to 5-1/2
percent, which became effective last July 1. For the eleven months
ending in November, according to computation, the radio tax collec¬
tions already total $6,155,895.53, compared with the total 1939
excise taxes of $5,229,649.14, while the comparative collections
for the eleven months of 1939 ending November were $4,485,525.46,
which was 37.2 percent less than the comparative collections for
the eleven months this year.
The past record for radio tax collections was reached in
1937 with a total pf $6,658,962.23, but it appeared certain that
normal large collections this month (with December excise taxes
ranging from $600,000 and up in past years) would bring the 1940
total to a new high record.
XXXXXXXX
11
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12/24/40
NEW LONG LINES HEAD OF A.T.& T.
Frank P. Lawrence, Vice President and General Manager of
the Manhattan Area of the New York Telephone Company, was elected
Vice President of the A. T. & T. Company and will be placed in
charge of the Long Lines Department, effective January 1. Sydney
Hogerton, General Manager of the Long Lines Department, will retire
on January 31, 1941, and James J. Pilliod, Engineer, will succeed
him in that position, effective February 1.
Frank Pell Lawrence was born at Newark, N. J. , on October
18, 1886. He was graduated from Newark High School and studied
civil engineering at Lehigh University.
The new head of the Long Lines Department spent seventeen
years at various posts in the Middle and Southwest. Mr. Lawrence
was made Supervising Construction Foreman in July, 1913, District
Plant Engineer in January, 1917, and Division Plant Engineer in
July of the following year. He transferred to Kansas City on being
appointed Division Construction Superintendent in February, 1920,
and the next July his title was changed to Division Plant Superin¬
tendent.
Mr. Lawrence was transferred to the New York Comoany in
March, 1929, being made General Plant Manager for its Upstate
Area. Four years later he went to the Manhattan Area, with the
same title. On October 1, 1934, he returned to the Uostate Area
as Vice President and General Manager, while on January 1, 1939,
he again came to New York, but this time as Vice President and
General Manager of the Manhattan Area. Mr. Lawrence was appointed
Vice President of the A. T. & T. Company on November 20.
XXXXXXXXX
COMPENSATION FOR DRAFTED OR ENLISTED WOR EMPLOYEES
Drafted WOR employees or those who enlist in the Army or
Navy will receive a financial differential between their civil and
military salary for varying lengths of time depending on the term
of their WOR employment, Alfred J. McCosker announced last week.
Staff members who have been with WOR for a year or longer
will receive the difference between their salaries at the time of
leaving and the pay they will receive for military service for a
period of three months after leaving the station. Those who have
been with WOR for less than one year will receive the difference
between their WOR salaries and their military pay for one month.
In addition full salary will be paid for vacations which
have accrued to an emoloyee at the time of his leaving for military
service .
XXXXXXXX
- 12 -
Heinl Radio Business Letter
2400 CALIFORNIA STREET WASHINGTON, D. C.
V’H-1 -gjpRfrk i-1*
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IiMDEX TO ISbOE OF DECEMBER 31, 1940
Hew Congress Will Make FCC Hop .
Defense Communications Board To Meet .
Government Suit Bad Break For Radio .
19?0 Magical, Says Times Editor Reviewing Year....
Reduced Channel Separation Proposed In Aviation. . .
Another Suspicious national Capital Power Blackout
Trade Rotes .
Alters VITA Radio Policy .
FCC Amends Rules Regarding Applications .
Gets Leave To Assist Rockefeller .
Sarnoff Expresses Hope In American Ingenuity .
.3
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Ho. 1P97
December 31, 1940
HEW CONGRESS WILL MaKE FCC HOP
Although no drastic legislative action is in sight, with
the exception of the possibility of the long expected Congressional
investigation of the radio industry, which if it took place would
undoubtedly include the deodorization of the Federal Communications
Commission, the convening of the new Congress will cause increased
activity among government radio officials.
The first thing probably that will receive Congressional
attention will be the belated monopoly report which will be lucky if
it isn’t greeted with a shower of brickbats. The FCC Committee pre¬
liminary monopoly recommendations met with such a warm reception on
the Hill that it is believed an entirely new report is now being
written.
Only the Mutual Broadcasting bystem, among the major net¬
works, supported the FCC Committee *s conclusions that networks be
licensed, that exclusive affiliate contracts be banned, and that the
FCC in effect supervise the dealings of stations and networks.
One prediction is that the upshot of the whole thing will
be the FCC reporting to Congress that it has no commercial juris¬
diction over the chains, ana if this opinion is upheld, would have
no power to act in the matter.
Lena tor Wallace White, Republic?. xi, of Maine, early in the
session wilx renew his efforts for an inquiry into, or a survey of,
the entire radio situation. It may be accompanied by a resolution
proposixig a reorganization of the FCC. If so, he probably would be
backed up by Senator Burton K. Wheeler, Democrat, of Montana, Chair¬
man of the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee, the most relentless
investigator in the Senate and Senator Tobey, Republican, of Hew
Hampshire, the stormy petrel in the Thad Brown hearings.
The Department of Justice cracking down on both the Broad¬
casters and the Composers thereby keeping the financial side of
radio in the limelight, may prove to be quite a factor in bringing
on a Congressional investigation. The criminal proceedings which
Attorney General Jackson has ordered will focus public attention on
the profits made by the networks and all this may prove alluring to
Congress always eager to investigate. On the other hand, it may be
disastrous to the industry if it winds up in network restrictions or
a heavy tax on network stations.
The Senators may hive something to say when and if a new
FCC Commissioner is named to succeed Colonel Brown. Also if instead
of filling the vacancy President Roosevelt decides to reorganize the
Commission perhaps along the lines of the Civil Aeronautics Authority
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12/31/40
The FCC will likewise come to the attention of the new
Congress in the matter of the Commission's 1942 budget. Although
definite figures have not as yet been made public , the Commission
is said to be asking for something more than ?4,0u0,000 for overall
activities from July 1941-42. Base appropriations for the current
fiscal year amounted to over $2,000,000. During the year the Com¬
mission received $1,600,000 from the President's National Defense
Fund and $175,000 for relocation of monitoring stations. A large
item in the 1941-2 appropriation is national defense.
XXXXXXXX
DEFENSE COMMUNICATIONS BOARD TO MEET
Further indication of tightening up all along the line in
national security will be the first general meeting of the Defense
Communications Board in Washington Mona ay, January 6. Chairman
James Lawrence Fly and associate members have been at work for sever
al weeks on the preliminaries. Those with him in this were Major
Gen. Joseph 0. Mauborgne, Chief Signal Officer of the Army, Rear
Admiral Leigh Noyes, Director of Naval Communications; Hon. Brecken-
ridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State in Che rge of the Division
of International Communications; oecretary Herbert E. Gaston,
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in Che rge of the Coast Guard.
Also a Coordinating Committee composed of E. K. Jett, Chief Engineer
Federal Communications Commission, as Chairman, Francis C. de Wolf,
State Department; Maj. W. T. Guest, War Department and Commander
J. F. Farley, Chief of Communications, U. S. Coast Guard, Treasury
Dept rtment .
Due to the fact that there are eleven subcommittees the
sessions will. be .held in the large hearing room of the Interstate
Commerce Commission but only committee members will be admitted
and the public excluded.
The Committees are Law, Labor, Industry, Amateur Radio,
Aviation, Cable, Domestic Broadcasting, Interdepartmental Radio,
Interne tional Broadcasting, Radiocommunications, State and Municipal
Facilities, Telephone, Telegraph, and U. S. Government Facilities.
No indication has been given as to the length of the meeting, but
it is assumed that it will not last more than a day.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Radio War on the U.S.A." (Berlin's "bombs for the mind")
is the title of an article in the January issue of "American
Mercury".
XXXXXXXXXX
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lfc/3-1/40
GOVERiMMEiMT SUIT BAD BREAK FOR RADIO
Whether or not the suits are ever prosecuted, Attorney-
General Jackson so unexpectedly cracking down on the Broadcasters
was a bad break for them. President Seville Miller of the National
Association of Broadcasters had been enthusiastically proddding the
Department of Justice to prosecute ASCAP and probably was the most
surprised man in Washington when the Attorney General landed on BMI
with equal force.
It was a surprise move which newspapers all over the
country played up on the front page bringing the copyright war to
the attention of millions of radio listeners who probably never heard
of it. Without this publicity the Broadcasters could have slipped
in the BMI music without listeners knowing the difference. One big
network broadcaster told this writer that there hadn't been a single
complaint from listeners on BMI music.
ASCAP had well laid plans to arouse the public, but anyone
who has had any experience with arousing the public knows this is a
most difficult thing to do. If Attorney General Jackson had singled
out ASCAP for prosecution this, of course, would have attracted atten
tion and might have gained syrnphathizer s though people are not quite
so quick to sympathize when a criminal charge is involved. However,
in taking a crack at the Broadcasters as well, the Attorney General
(brought the fight to the attention of the entire listening public
and put them on guard in a manner it would have been utterly impos¬
sible for ASCAP to he ve done. Altogether it was a great publicity
break for the Composers who made no effort to conceal their satis¬
faction at the turn events had taken.
Well informed observers in Washington believed that there
is still a chance that the suit will be settled before the Department
of Justice files criminal proceedings in Milwaukee.
John G. Paine, General Manager of the American Society of
Composers and publishers, declared:
"Even up to the last minute, if the c ha. ins show the in¬
clination, something may be worked out in a few hours so that the
public might continue to hear the music over the air."
I The dispute centers around the five-year contract which
expires today (December 31). The Society's new contract asks 7g per
cent of the gross income from all commercial programs, while the
broadcasters offer payment on a per program basis if ASCAP music is
used .
Despite the Government action, it is evident at this writ¬
ing that Broadcasters intend to go ahead with their plan to put on
BMI music.
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Present ASCaP contracts have been renewed on the new terms
by only a minority of radio stations and it is alleged that more
than 600 stations have subscribed to the rival music copyright ser¬
vice. Washington radio attorneys disclosed that many independent
stations over the country are hopelessly confused by the latest
development and are preparing to obtain both ASCAP and BMI licenses
to avoid any danger of copyright infringement .
The law prescribes a $£50 fine for each infringement of
musical copyrights, and even HAB officials admit that it's not going
to be easy to avoid mistakes.
ASCAP and BMI, on the other hand, have their worries.
Should either or both be convicted of anti-trust activities, as
alleged by the Justice Department, they would be liable to triple
damage suits from their licensees.
One rumor in Washington was that the Department of Justice
really proposed to go through with the ASCAP-BMI prosecution and
that it was not merely a bluff by Attorney General Jackson to bring
about a settlement. Furthermore, it was said that the Justice Depart
ment also proposed to give some attention to the activities of James
C. Pctrillo, the $46, 000-a-year music "czar" of the American Federa¬
tion of Labor who recently issued an ultimatum regarding broadcast¬
ing by Army bands.
Headed "Department of Justice Confused" the National
Association of Broadcasters issued the following statement:
"Further evidence of misunderstanding by the Department of
Justice concerning BMI ' s set-up was the Department's reference to
ASCAP and BMI 'members'. ASCaP has members. BMI has no members.
ASCAP is a 'protective society'. BMI is a musical publishing house.
"For example, in the lowest paid ASCAP membership group,
a member pays a $10.00 annual dues fee to the society against his
average annual receipts of $£0.00 paid by ASCAP to the 'member' for
all rights to his music.
"In contrast, BMI makes no restricted contracts with com¬
posers. Dior does it receive any form of 'dues' from any author or
composer. BMI merely publishes their compositions, pays them royalty
fees and, in addition, pays them for the use of compositions over the
air in exact ratio to the number of performances.
XXXXXXXX
H0TE - DUE TO THE HEW YEAR HOLIDAY, THE REGULAR FRIDAY
ISSUE WILL BE OMITTED THIS WEEK.
X X X X X X X X
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12/31/40
1940 MAGICAL SaYS TIMES EDITOR REVIEWING YEAR
If 1940 was magical, T. R. Kennedy, Radio Editor of the
iMew York Times observes the new year is destined to be even more so.
Reviewing the past year, Mr. Kennedy writes:
"More than 11,000,000 receivers came off the factory work
benches - 2,000,000 of them for automobiles - The industry now pays
its 500,000-odd workmen at the rate of more than $500,000,000 annual¬
ly, an increase of 15 to 20 percent over 1939.
"Effective last July, the Federal Communications Commission
required American short-wave broadcasters to maintain a minimum power
of fifty kilowatts - equal to the larges transmitters of foreign
countries. Sponsored programs were authorized.
"On radio waves regarded in the early Nineteen Twenties as
practically useless, 1940 saw the inauguration of a whole new method
of broadcasting known as FM. A dozen transmitters went on the air
within a few months - recently twenty-five such stations were author¬
ized to install high-power apparatus and to operate 'as soon as pos¬
sible' on a business par with existing long-wave broadcasters. . . .
"A recent survey disclosed at least 7,000 FM receivers
operating daily in the Greater Hew York area; 12,000 in cities along
the Atlantic Coast. More than fifteen large set makers were produc¬
ing receivers as 1940 drew' near its end, and four or five other
plants were building the needed transmitters .
"Much technical progress was made in television during the
latter part of 1940, while its operation 'marked time' at the request
of the FCC, to effect a standardization of transmission and recep¬
tion systems. This work, now being finished by the national Tele¬
vision Systems Committee, is scheduled to go before the FCC by Janu¬
ary 27.
"Devised by Dr. Alfred H. Goldsmith, Hew York consulting
engineer, a novel method of utilizing many small cathode-ray tubes
instead of a single large one to increase the size of projected tele¬
vision images, is designed to be plugged into existing home tele¬
view sets, or to be utilized for large screen views in theatres.
"Color television received the attention of experimenters.
It seems safe to predict that color will be featured on the video
bands within a few years as the result of basic tests made in 1940.
High among the list of such experimenters was Dr. Peter Goldmark,
Chief Television Engineer of the Columbia Broadcasting System, who
introduced outside pickups and scenes from films through the utiliza¬
tion of vari-colored whirling disks.. . .
"Tiny waves less than a meter long, in two ethereal hops
linked the Empire State teleview station with an RCA receiving depot
at Riverhead, L. I., eighty miles distant. ...
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12/31/40
"Encouraged by the success of the tests, NBC began con¬
struction of a new television unit at Washington, later to be joined
in a tri-city system - hew York, Philadelphia and Washington. . . .
"Camera- size radios came into vogue during the past twelve
months, aided by the creation of special dry batteries capable of
operating new thimble-size vacuum tubes for many hours. Home record¬
ing gained in popularity; nearly 750,000 units were built. With the
gaining popularity of radio-phonograph combinations and record play¬
ers came phonograph record sales for 1940 exceeding the 75,000,000
mark.
XXXXXXXX
REDUCED CHANNEL SEPARATION PROPOSED IN AVIATION
A progressive schedule of installation of ultra high fre¬
quency apparatus has been provided in a proposed amendment to Part 9,
Rules and Regulations Governing Aviation Services. The proposals
are based on the recommendations of Subcommittee No. 9 of the Radio
Technical Committee for Aeronautics and discussions held between
representatives of the Commission, other government departments and
licensees. They involve the use of the ultra high frequencies for
airport control purposes.
A reduced channel separation between the frequencies as¬
signed for airport traffic control has been set up with consequent
increase in the number of assignable frequencies and amplitude modu¬
lation rather than frequency modulation is adopted for the aviation
service .
Any who are interested in the adoption of these proposed
rules are invited to comment to the Federal Communications Commis¬
sion upon any specific provision or on the proposal as a whole. It
is requested that comments be submitted by letter to the Secretary on
or before January 31, 1941.
XXXXXXXX
IOWA STUDENT WINS BURKAN COPYRIGHT COMPETITION
Winners of the 1940 Nathan Bureau Memorial Competition in¬
augurated by the American Society of Composers in memory of its for¬
mer General Counsel, were Frank R. Miller, State University of Iowa,
Iowa City, Iowa, "A Re-Examination of Literary Piracy", Frank D.
Emerson, Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, "Public Per¬
formance for Profit: Past and Present"; Calvin Welker Evans, Univer¬
sity of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, "The Law of Copyright and the Right
of Mechanical Reproduction of Musical Compositions" ; Irving Propper,
Brooklyn Law School of s a. Lawrence University, Brooklyn, N. Y.,
"American (Popular' Music and the Copyright Law", Robert W. Bergstrom
Chicago-Kont College of Law, Chicago, Ill., "The Business man Deals
7
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lfc/31/40
With Copyright"; Howard B. Pickard, University of Oklahoma, Norman,
Oklahoma, "Common-Law Rights Before Publication", Milton Harold
Aronson, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, "The Develop¬
ment of Motion Picture Copyright".
Forty law schools participated in the competition in 1938
and eighty-one in 1940.
XXXXXXXXX
AiMOTHER SUSPICIOUS NATIONAL CAPITAL POWER BLACKOUT
Following closely a blackout of power on all Washington
and Baltimore radio stations and everything else in these cities us¬
ing electricity a wire placed by an unknown person on the main
Virginia Public Service Co. power line between Alexandria and nrling
ton, Va., just across the Potomac from Washington, D. C., last
Wednesday cut off current to the naval radio station in Arlington -
which transmits signals to ships at sea - and blacked out more than
1,000 homes.
(At the Wavy Department, it was said that the interruption
of current caused only momentary inconvenience at the naval radio
station. It was explained that the station has auxiliary power,
and any failure in the public supply merely prompts an engineer to
throw a switch turning on the emergency unit.
Although sabotage was denied in the first blackout power,
company officials admitted the possibility of sabotage in the second
instance, "in which case the trouble probably would be repeated",
but were more inclined to believe a prank was intended.
The wire, several feet long and not insulated, was placed
Ion the line at the top of a pole at South Seventh Street and Vi/ashing
ton Boulevard, Arlington. Officials believed it was thrown from the
ground or placed by a person who climbed the pole and handled the
wire with gloves. The spot is at the south end of Arlington Nation¬
al Cemetery - a sparsely settled section.
A short circuit became evident at the Alexandria power¬
house at 11:33 P.M. and the current went out in the Aurora Hills and
Virginia Highlands communities in Arlington County and the Del Ray
and Roscmont suburbs of Alexandria. A trouble crew was sent out to
locate the trouble and service was resumed at 12:28 A.M.
Arlington firemen put out flames at the top of the pole,
caused by the short circuit.
X X X X X X X X
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12/31/40
• •
;; TRADE ROTES
A streamlined annual report of the Federal Communications
Commission, brought up to date but half the size of last year’s,
will be released Thursday, January 2.
Five stations in an Oklahoma regional network will become
affiliates of the Rational Broadcasting Company January 1. They are
KADA, Ada; KVSO, Ardmore; KCRC, Enid; KBIX, Muskogee, and KGFF,
Shawnee .
Television will be discussed at the Fourth Annual Engineer¬
ing Conference of Ohio State University at Columbus on February 10
to 21. Among the speakers will be Dr. W. R. G. Baker, Director of
the RMA Engineering Department, who will discuss the work of the
Rational Television Systems Committee. Chief Engineer E. K. Jett
of the Federal Communications Commission will discuss national de¬
fense problems in the communication field, and other speakers will
include Major E. H. Armstrong on frequency modulation.
The Rational Broadcasting Company networks accounted for
118 of the 172 programs and personalities voted ’’tops" in Radio
Daily's Annual Poll of radio editors, according to a RBC press
release .
A hearing has been set for Friday, February 21, on the
application of WMBG, Havens and Martin, Richmond, Va., for 5 KW day
and night unlimited time.
Harry L. Erlicher, purchasing agent of General Electric
since 1931 and an employee of the company 40 years, was elected a
Vice-President at a meeting of the Board of Directors in now York.
He will continue to be in charge of the company’s purchasing activ¬
ities.
Ultra high frequency will be used in 1941 by American
Airlines, a station is being erected between Rev; York and Boston.
Denying him the privilege of operating Station W2XEH on a
commercial basis the Federal Communications Commission granted
special temporary authority to Major Edwin H. Armstrong to operate a
high frequency experimental broadcast station on 42800 kilocycles,
4000 watts power at Alpine, H. J.
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lfc/31/40
The zenith Radio Corporation has been granted special
temporary authority to operate a high frequency experimental broad¬
cast station on 4£800 kilocycles, 5000 watts, special emission for
frequency modulation with transmitter located at 505 H . Michigan
Avenue, Chicago
Station WOR has abandoned its practice of maintaining a
skeleton office staff on Saturday mornings. Hereafter the offices
will be closed from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.
Rufus C. Maddux has been appointed Director of Sales of
WOR. He was Director of Advertising and Publicity for the Hew
England Council.
Major John a. Holman, General Manager of KJDKA, has receiv¬
ed orders from the War Department to report for active duty.
An 8-pagc Radio and Theater tabloid section was started
recently as a regul- r Sunday feature of the Chillicothe (Ohio)
Gazette and Hews Advertiser . a complete weekly rrdio schedule is
offered with copy restricted in order that it might be laid-out
around radio progr-ms.
XXXXXXXX
ALTERS WPA RADIO POLICY
The Work Projects Administration in Washington states
that no WPA musical programs would be broadcast after December SI
until such time as schedules could be rearranged to insure widest
possible reception of its concert music.
"WPA has decided", an official said, "that it is a waste
of time and effort to fill the air at random with whatever music
the various units arc prepared to offer. After the firs of the
year no programs will be broadcast until worthwhile concerts can be
given on regular schedules."
Local officials of the major broadcasting chains said that
so far as they knew there had been no WPA programs on the networks.
Broadcasts, it was said, have be»en handled by some individual sta¬
tions .
The WPA did not explain just what arrangements it desir¬
ed before resuming broadcasts, but an official said it was hoped
something "entirely new" would be worked out whereb. WPA concerts
would be broadcast at regular periods.
xxxxxxxx
- 10 -
0
12/21/40
FCC AMENDS RULES REGARDING APPLICATIONS
The Federal Communications Commission has amended Section
1.72 of its Rules and Regulations to read as follows:
S. 1.72 - Defective applications — (a) Applications which
are defective with respect to completeness of answers to re¬
quired questions execution, or other matters of a purely formal
character will not be received for filing by the Commission un¬
less the Commission shall otherwise direct.
(b) Applications which have been received for filing but
which are not in accordance with the Commission's rules, regu¬
lations or other requirements will be considered defective. If
an applicant by specific request of the Commission is required
to file any documents or information not included in the pre¬
scribed application form, a failure to comply therewith will
constitute a defect in the application. Such defective applica¬
tions wall not be considered by the Commission.
The Commission also adopted new Sections 1.76 and 1.77 to
its Rules and Regulations, reading as follows:
S. 1.76 Withdrawal of papers - The granting of a request to
dismiss or withdraw an application or a pleading does not author¬
ize the removal of such application or pleading from the Commis¬
sion's records. No application or other document once officially
filed shall be returned unless the Commission shall, for good
cause shown, authorize such return.
S. 1.77 Failure to prosecute applications not designated for
hearing - The following provisions shall apply to applications which
have not been designated for hearing. An applicant not desiring to
prosecute his application may request the dismissal of same without
prejudice. A request of an applicant for the return of any applica¬
tion which has been officially filed will be considered as a request
to dismiss the same without prejudice. Any application which has not
been designated for hearing and which by reason of failure to res¬
pond to official correspondence or otherwise is subject to dismissal
for non-prose cution will be dismissed without prejudice.
XXXXXXXXXX
GETS LEAVE TO ASSIST ROCKEFELLER
James W. Young, former advertising executive, who became
Director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in 1939,
has been granted indefinite leave of absence by Secretary of Commerce
Id esse H. Jones. Mr. Young leaves the Commerce Department for an
indefinite period to carry out his duties as Chairman, Communica¬
tions Division, of the office of Nelson Rockefeller, Coordinator of
Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics.
Carroll L. Wilson, Assistant Director of the Bureau, wil _ become
Acting Director. He was formerly associated with Scudaer, Stevens
and Clark, New York, investment counsel.
XXXXXXXX
11
12/51/40
SARNOFF EXPRESSES HOPE IN AMERICAN INGENUITY
Research and American ingenuity form an unbeatable com¬
bination for the advance of science , David darnoff, President of
the Radio Corporation of America, declared in a year-end statement.
"Opportunities for radio to progress are as unending as
the years", Mr. Sarnoff said. "As Time turns the calendar to 1941,
the New Year brings promise of advances all along the line of com¬
munications. Research and engineering, working with such forces and
tools as electrons and the vacuum tube, can be depended upon to
deliver new achievements in radio within the year.
"The New Year inherits from the Old, new and powerful
short-wave transmitters, prominent among them two modern installa¬
tions now being put on the air at Bound BrooK, N. J., by the Nation¬
al Broadcasting Company. These stations, operating with directional
beam aerials, are designed to increase the dependability and clarity
of reception throughout Latin America.
For home reception too, American broadcasters constantly
are improving their transmitters by taking advantage of the latest
devices. An outstanding example in this field of development is
WEAF's new' transmitter at Port Washington, Long Island, which sprays
its clear-toned waves over an all-water route to New York as testi¬
mony of the effectiveness of modern radio.
Experiments in television and frequency modulation will be
continued as the engineers test new devices and explore the possi¬
bilities in both fields. A demonstration of large-screen television
in a New York theatre is one of the early prospects of the New Year.
The camera-eye of television is being made more sensitive, it becomes
effective without intense illumination. Through research on improve¬
ment of the optical system, progress is being made in enlargement of
the pictures without loss of definition.
The unfathomed science of electronics is such a part of
radio that the directions in which it may advance are unlimited.
Today inventions in radio are spreading their usefulness in other
industrial fields. Among the paramount research developments of
1940, which will be extended to 1941, is the electron microscope
developed in the RCA Laboratories.
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12
HEINL RA®HJSIHESS_LETTER
July
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